Swindle
by SecondLevelWriter
Summary: Continued from Swipe. The rogue enrolls in the Hive Academy to find Jinx and bring her back home. However, not everything goes according to plan. OC, a lot AU. And now, it is finished!
1. Registration

"Swindle" - the sequel to "Swipe" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

**TEEN TITANS** (c) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. **TEEN TITANS** and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Also, any references to brand names or trademarks are sole property of their respective companies. The only thing I can safely call my own is my character, Swipe.

_Chapter 1  
__Registration_

"I'm sorry, you guys... I'm really sorry that I've gotta do this..."

Swipe stepped through the front gates of the academy, taking one last glance over his shoulder at Titans' Tower, which stood off the coast of the city like an omnipresent sentinel. He couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he was letting his new friends down, but he reminded himself that he was only doing this to get Jinx back. It was nothing personal against them, it was something personal for him alone.

The rogue opened the double doors leading into the academy's lobby and peered cautiously inside. It was nothing like he had expected: A large oak desk dominated the room's far wall, well-polished and dusted busts of former headmasters and outstanding teachers lined the left and right walls with ornate doorways leading to the next rooms, and the floor consisted of marble tile set in a checkerboard pattern that was waxed and cleaned to perfection.

If he were to come here for any other reason, it would've been to steal this place blind.

"Hello and welcome to the Hive Academy for Extraordinary Young People," the receptionist behind the desk yawned. "What can I do for you?"

Swipe nervously approached the desk, "I'd, um, like to register for some classes?"

"Very well, then. Just fill out these papers and we'll get you scheduled to attend orientation in the morning," the woman handed him a small stack of forms along with a clipboard.

"Thanks. What's the tuition fee?"

"Oh, there's no fee."

Swipe blinked, "None at all?" He then thought about it, _'Makes sense in a way. If everyone here is trained to break into high-security places and the like, then the academy can run off the profits.'_

"We even provide our students with free room and board. It is the academy's belief that no child should be denied a proper education," the lady replied, sounding as if she'd repeated it more than a hundred times.

The thief only nodded a reply while he went to work filling out the papers. At "Code Name:", he stopped himself three letters into writing his real name. He quickly thought up a new name, one that sounded at least _relatively_ sinister.

The receptionist nodded as she was given the finished paperwork, "Thank you..." She looked over the form for the name, "... Swindle?"

This prompted Swipe to try looking tougher than when he first walked in, "Yeah, that's me." Boy, this was gonna be tougher than he thought...

The woman looked over the dorm roster, found an empty room for the new recruit, and handed him the corresponding key, "Your room is 281. Second floor. The bath and shower room is located on the north side, and the stairs are that way." She pointed to the doorway on the rogue's right.

_'Really hopin' the shower room isn't co-ed...'_ he mused before nodding to the receptionist. "Thanks a lot. Where will orientation be held?"

"The main auditorium. Just follow the signs if you get lost."

"Right, gotcha. Have a good night, ma'am."

With that, the rogue picked up his bag and made his way to the dormitory wing in search of the stairs. He passed by numerous doors as he walked and wondered which ones belonged to whom. None of the ones he looked at had any noticeable signs until he climbed to the second floor and found Room 242. Just below the plaque denoting the room number was another sign made of notebook paper, with the message "Jinx's Room - Keep Out or Else!" written on it.

Swipe ran his fingertips over the paper for a moment, as if not believing what his eyes were seeing. After checking around to make sure nobody was coming, he pressed his ear to the door and listened intently. For a long moment, he heard nothing... maybe an occasional deep breath or sigh, but not much more. He then remembered that Jinx doesn't snore in her sleep and deemed what he was doing to be pointless. He backed away and made a mental note of the room's location before resuming the search for his own room.

It didn't take him long to find it once he rounded the last corner. He slowly pushed the key into the handle's lock and turned, pushing the door open in one motion. The room itself was a fairly standard-looking affair: A Queen-sized bed sat on the left-hand wall, accompanied by an empty set of bookshelves in the far corner, a single window on the far wall, and a television set on the right-hand wall.

The tired rogue threw his duffel bag in the general direction of the foot of the bed and proceeded to change out of his street clothes, closing the door behind him with his foot. Once in his sleepwear, he sat at the edge of the bed for a moment to collect his thoughts. The unsettling vision he had of Jinx being dragged into some dark abyss while he was unconscious still bothered him. He hoped that it wasn't the realization of his biggest fear, that Jinx was lost to him forever, especially considering the knowledge that the headmaster could possess the psionic ability to dominate others.

He unhooked the gold bracelet that the hex-caster wore and held it between his thumb and forefinger, letting the memories of her fill his mind again. The first of them was when he had gotten this very bit of jewelry for her...

_"That must have been quite an inner struggle," _he remembered her saying, with the hug she gave him after that nearly taking his breath away and making his heart skip a few beats. _"Thank you so much. I love it!"_

"I knew you would, Jinxie..." he answered absently to his own memory. "I just knew you would."

Soon, very soon, he'd be able to get her away from this place once and for all. They could pick right up where they left off, like nothing had ever happened. He couldn't wait to tell her what he'd done, helping the Titans upend Slade by holding off the armies of attack drones plus the gestalt creature made up of Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Overload. He wanted to tell her of how he'd even become an honorary member of the Teen Titans themselves, and that he had done it all to ensure he could save her without anything getting in his way.

Swipe tightly squeezed the bracelet in his hand before laying it down on the shelf next to him and settling into his new bed. It may have been less than a week since he'd last seen Jinx, but it already felt more like months.

A sudden beeping from his duffel bag snapped the rogue out of his dreaming, causing a brief scramble for the communicator in order to shut it off. Instead, he pressed the button to open the comm and answer the call.

On the other side was Starfire, looking rather worried and repeatedly calling into the microphone, "Hello? Friend Swipe? Are you awake at this very late hour of the evening?"

"Hey, Sweetcheeks..." he yawned in response while turning the volume as far down as possible. "What's up?"

"I.. er, that is to say, _we_ were all wondering how you were doing after your performance. We waited for you outside the club of night, but you never appeared. Is everything... okay?"

"Everything's fine, Starfire. You guys don't hafta worry about me, though. I'm a big boy, I can handle myself."

The Tamaranean girl smiled, "I.. _WE_ cannot help it. You are our friend, after all." Her smile waned a bit, "The song you sang tonight... for Jinx... It filled my heart with great pain, but I am certain that the pain you were feeling was far greater. I sincerely hope you find her again, Swipe."

The rogue started to wish that he could hug her right now, "I appreciate that, Star. You're a great friend to have."

"Have you had any fortune with locating her?"

Swipe faltered a bit, but shook his head after a moment, "Uh, uhm, no. Not yet. I just... um, just checked around the motel, but it was gettin' too late so I.. uh.. went to bed."

_'Damn, was that lame...'_

"I am sorry to hear that. I hope that tomorrow brings you better luck," Starfire gave her new friend a gentle smile before reaching for the switch to the control panel. "I must also begin my sleeping phase. Good night, friend. May you sleep well."

"G'night, Starfire. See ya later," the thief smiled back and shut off the comm. As he put it away, his smile quickly dissolved as he muttered, "I hope I sleep well tonight, too..."

_**END OF CHAPTER 1**_

_**In Chapter 2 - **Swipe, now known as Swindle, spots Jinx on her way to class. One might think that this would be a tearful reunion, but..._


	2. Orientation

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's notes: All pre-existing disclaimers still apply here. No new disclaimers to report. You can go about your business. Move along, move along.

_Chapter 2  
Orientation_

Morning couldn't have come faster for Swipe, who awoke right at the break of dawn. He jumped from his bed and drew open the window to take in a long breath of air. He then wasted no time in getting himself dressed and even properly groomed, making absolutely sure he looked his best.

The rogue took another deep breath before he opened the door, "All right. Let's go get 'er."

He emerged from his room and looked to see where the flow of students was headed, then merged with the group while keeping his eyes peeled. Sure enough, he saw a familiar head of hair that was the color of cotton candy, but shaped into the old style of the oblong "U". Swipe zipped from opening to opening, getting right behind the sorceress without her noticing.

"Guess who!" he said brightly, placing both hands upon Jinx's shoulders.

SLAP! The hex-caster whirled around and whacked the offender squarely across his cheek. The remaining students were starting to file out of the hallway while Jinx accosted the thief.

"Didn't anyone teach you not to touch things that don't belong to you?" she scolded him, her hands planted on her hips.

Swipe rubbed his cheek, staring at the girl in disbelief, "Jinxie, don'cha recognize me?" He also noticed that she was back in her old outfit now, which made him wonder what happened to that makeover she wanted so much.

She tilted her head as she looked him over, "I don't recall ever seeing you before. Did you just sign up here or something?"

His jaw dropped. How could she not remember him after everything that they did together? Just what did that headmaster fellow _do_ to her?

Thinking quickly, he recovered from his error and replied, "Uh, yeah, I did. Sorry about comin' up behind you and everything. Ya looked like someone I knew. Erm, my name's Swindle. You are...?"

"You said it already, although I don't know how you guessed it. I'm Jinx."

The rogue extended his hand, which she hesitantly accepted, "Nice to meet ya." In that instant, a huge shadow loomed behind him, accompanied by the sounds of cracking knuckles and a deep, gravelly voice.

"Hey, Jinx, is this guy botherin' you?"

Swipe turned to face who could only be Mammoth, noting how fitting the brute's name was. Putting his hands up in surrender, the rogue took a cautious step backwards and quickly said, "Easy there, tough guy. I don't want any trouble. It's just mistaken identity, that's all."

Jinx waved her friend off, "It's okay, Mammoth. Don't get yourself suspended so early in the semester over nothing, like you did last time."

Mammoth shot a "consider-yourself-lucky" glare at the thief before turning back to Jinx, "Class is gettin' ready to start, though. I don't think ya'd want to get in it with the teach this early, either."

"I know, I know," she replied as she also turned her attention back to Swindle. "And you should be getting to the auditorium for orientation. Do you know the way there? If not, I can show you."

_'Wait a minute! Why am I being so nice to this guy?' _she suddenly thought. _'And why do I get this feeling that maybe I **do** know him from somewhere?'_

"Well, if it's not outta your way, I'd appreciate it," his reply brought the sorceress out of her thoughts.

Jinx shook her head, "Nah, it's no big deal. Come on, it's just across the main hall." She added to Mammoth, speaking over her shoulder, "I'll be in class in just a few minutes. Try to cover for me until then, okay?"

The brute sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I'll do what I can. Just don't take too long."

The two students headed back into the main hall and down the west wing. Jinx then pointed to a large set of double doors at the end of the hallway.

"There's the auditorium. You'd better get going before the headmaster starts his opening speech."

"Thanks. Um, see you around?"

The hex-caster gave him a tiny hint of a smile, "Oh, probably. Don't fall asleep." She snickered to herself before waving to the rogue and dashing off to class.

She looked back at him over her shoulder and thought, _'Still can't shake this feeling that I've met him before... He is kinda cute, though...'_

Swindle watched her leave, still wondering how or even if he'd be able to get her to remember him. Sighing once, he opened the doors to the auditorium and found a nice, cozy seat in the back row. In the chair was a few papers describing various classes and activities, just like any other run-of-the-mill school.

"Welcome, new students, to your first day in the Hive Academy!" a rather stately voice spoke from the front of the auditorium. Swindle looked up from the pamphlets and nearly toppled out of his chair at the sight of the headmaster. Flowing white robes with red and gold trim, a black/gold chestplate covering the shoulders, well-groomed gray hair atop chiseled features; it was the man he had guessed to be the new headmaster of the academy when the rogue saw him in Slade's cavernous hideout, shortly before his brain got psionically bent into a pretzel.

"My name is Brother Blood, and I am the headmaster of this complex. Here, we offer a wide variety of courses designed to give you the skills necessary to become successful in today's world..."

As Blood droned on with his speech, Swindle went back to reading the pamphlets to keep his mind occupied. Just when he started to wish that he had a pencil, the headmaster's voice became surprisingly clear. It almost felt like he was in the thief's head...

_'You will obey only me. You shall follow my commands from this day forward.'_

Swindle's eyes suddenly opened wide when he realized what was happening, and briefly flashed red as the enthrallment tried to take hold. He quickly squeezed them shut and gritted his teeth, concentrating as hard as he could to shut out the voice. He tried thinking about other things; songs that were forever stuck in his head, his best performances with the band at the nightclub, and his first dance with Jinx.

'_Can't... let him do to me... what he did... to **her!**'_

The louder the voice got, the more Swindle thought about to keep it blocked out. He became focused on his memories of Jinx and recalling everything they did together. Brother Blood's voice was becoming quieter again, until one last voice trailed off in the rogue's mind. Her voice.

_'Thank you, Swipe... for everything you've done...'_

At last, Swindle's eyes opened again as he struggled to catch his breath. His mind was clear, the voice was gone now, and the headmaster was coming to the end of his speech.

"... Any questions?"

"No, sir," came the monotone reply from all around the rogue. Swindle looked to the students sitting on either side of him, horrifically finding their eyes glowing red like the others. To blend in with the subverted, the rogue lowered his eyes and moved his lips to mimic their answer.

"Good. Now then, let's begin the tour of our facilities."

Everyone stood in unison and filed behind Brother Blood, with Swindle lagging in the back as usual. He took mental notes of several locations if he ever needed supplies: the cafeteria, the training rooms, faculty offices, and a few classrooms. He still shook his head a few times to get rid of the nagging ring in his head, hoping to throw off what was left of the headmaster's influence.

Once the tour had ended, the new students were dismissed for the day to have lunch and become more familiar with the grounds. Swindle entered the cafeteria and looked around for anyone familiar. Sure enough, he saw the hulking Mammoth scarfing down his lunch alongside the sawed-off technogeek, Gizmo. Jinx was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't stop the rogue from grabbing a tray, getting some food, and sitting down across from them.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him, "Where do you think you're going?"

Swindle didn't recognize the voice, so he turned to face the speaker: a dark-skinned young lady who looked inexplicably like a bee, complete with a yellow and black striped outfit and compound wings on her back. The rogue quickly had to mask the confused look on his face before he gave his answer.

"Uhm, I'm gonna go eat."

"Not with _them_, you're not. Those guys are two of Brother Blood's best students, and they're pretty picky about who sits with them... Oh, sorry, I haven't introduced myself," the girl held out her hand. "My name's Bumblebee."

Swindle accepted the handshake, "I'm Swindle. Nice to make your acquaintance." He indicated Mammoth with a thrust of his chin, "I've already had a run-in with the big fella over there, now that you mention it. Not exactly a friendly guy, is he?"

"When the headmaster likes you, it tends to go to your head."

_"In more ways than one..."_ the rogue muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. In any case, if I'm not eatin' with those guys, where am I gonna sit?"

"Follow me." she replied, leading him to another table occupied by a young man dressed in a white bodysuit emblazoned with an eye-like crest on the chest and wearing a green visor that sported a single eye.

"Swindle, this is SeeMore. SeeMore, Swindle." Bumblebee made introductions as they both took their seats. She then asked the newcomer, "Have you had your entry exam yet?"

"I don't think so. All I've done is the general tour of the place," Swindle answered shortly before devouring two-thirds of the food he had in front of him while the other two students gaped. Once he had finished the rest of the food (which took all of 5 seconds), he noticed their expressions and asked innocently, "What?"

"That answered _my_ question..." SeeMore remarked plainly.

Bumblebee nodded and explained to the thief, "We were gonna ask what your powers were. Looks like you might have some promise here, unless _eating a lot_ is really your power."

"Super speed, actually," Swindle corrected her, even though he knew she was being sarcastic. "I just have to eat a lot in order to keep my energy up, or else I'll tire out real fast."

"Then you'd better eat a lot before..." the cyclopian started to say before Brother Blood's voice cut in on the intercom.

_"Would all newly registered students and senior classmen please report to the main training room. I repeat, all new and senior students please report to the main training room. That is all."_

"Looks like it's time for that exam," the rogue said as he got to his feet. "Should I take a #2 pencil with me, or what?"

Bumblebee shook her head, "You won't need paper for this kind of test, Swindle. Just your wits."

This made Swindle's eyebrows pick up. Not _another_ obstacle course...

_**End of Chapter 2**_

_**In Chapter 3 - **As if the Teen Titans' obstacle course wasn't bad enough... Could the Hive's course possibly be worse? Oh, probably._


	3. Examination

"Swindle" by Ed Alger a.k.a. SecondLevelWriter

Author's Notes: All disclaimers still apply. What, you were expecting a laundry list?

_Chapter 3  
Examination_

Swindle made a quick side-trip to his room in order to pick up his utility belt and daggers, making sure he was ready for this "exam". The thought of having to run another obstacle course made him shiver, especially when he recalled how the Titans' giant mech nearly squished him with those wrecking balls. Considering that, he could only wonder what the Hive puts its students through.

Once he was happy with his choices in equipment, the rogue made his way to the training room and found not only the new students gathered there, but also a familiar trio. Apparently, Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx were a sort of benchmark against which all others were compared. Undaunted, the rogue took his place at the starting platform with a few of the other newcomers. As he stretched his arms to loosen up a bit, he heard the familiar growl of Mammoth just behind him.

"Think you can handle this, stringbean?"

Swindle merely drew his daggers and returned a wry smile back up at the brute, "I think I'll manage. In fact, ya might end up havin' to keep up with me."

Jinx furrowed her brow upon hearing those words, again wondering where on Earth she'd heard them before. It was starting to look like déja vu followed this guy like a second shadow. She made a mental note to find out why, someday.

Meanwhile, Gizmo scoffed at the rogue, "Yeah, right! We're gonna smoke you good, newbie!"

"Smoke? You'll be lucky if you _singe_ me!"

Brother Blood's voice interrupted the argument, _"All students, get ready._"

Swindle leaned forward, ready to run. He glanced over to Jinx, and caught her looking at him for just a second before she quickly diverted her eyes back to the course.

_"BEGIN!"_

Before anyone had jumped off the platform, Swindle was already off and racing past the spray of energy bolts from several wall-mounted turrets. Jinx's hex-bolts took out the three on the right side, while a combination of the rogue's throwing knives and Gizmo's homing missiles blasted away the remainder. Four more ground-based turrets sprouted up right in front of the thief just when he thought he'd have a free run to the finish line.

More blaster fire peppered the ground around Swindle as he swiftly zigzagged in every possible direction to avoid being hit. He threw his adamantine daggers into the barrels of one turret, splitting it open and causing it to overheat. He leapt in to retrieve his weapons before it blew, drawing fire while Mammoth smashed his fists into another turret.

"Not bad for a beginner," the brute commented. "But this is where the fun really starts!"

"Lucky freakin' me!" Swindle shot back as he slashed through the third turret. Mammoth pulled the final turret right out of its socket and threw it aside, making way for the others to pass through.

Their final obstacle was a small squad of six combat mechas, which looked strangely familiar to the rogue. Didn't Slade have a few of these things back when he and Terra had almost taken over the city? There was only one way to find out...

Swindle lunged for the closest one and plunged his daggers into its chest unit. As he expected, he found the robot's power core just under the exterior plating and carved it out. He then hurled the rapidly destabilizing device into another droid, destroying it in the ensuing blast. Yanking his daggers out of the first robot, Swindle leapt onto his next target to continue the assault.

In the meantime, the remaining three robots directed their attention to the other students. Jinx backflipped into a handspring to avoid the blows of her opponent, while Gizmo and Mammoth teamed up to pummel the other two. Swindle finished off his mecha just in time to see Jinx gradually becoming cornered by the remaining droid, her hexes not seeming to affect the thing at all. Without a moment's hesitation, the thief gripped his daggers tightly and dashed for the final robot, driving both of his weapons deep into its back. The combat droid soon collapsed at the sorceress' feet with Swindle flashing her a toothy grin before he continued on his way to the finish line.

Brother Blood watched the entire thing with great interest from his platform on the upper floor of the gymnasium. The newcomer's superhuman speed was impressive to say the least, and his technique showed that whatever skills he had were self-taught. And those knives... Weren't those the Daggers of Hephaestus, legendary artifacts from the Middle Ages that were said to be stolen from one of the most secure museums in the nation? There was more to this boy then meets the eye, and Blood made a note to himself to keep Swindle under close observation.

Back down on the gym's floor, Swindle was getting a few rounds of applause from the other students for his performance, including Jinx and Mammoth. Gizmo refused to contribute to the clamor, even though his jaw dropped just as much as anyone else's at how swiftly Swindle had shredded those robots. The rogue stood proudly on the finishing platform before giving his audience a deep bow. Now he knew how Jinx must have felt the night she showed off her powers to him.

"I guess congratulations are in order," the sorceress remarked as she walked up to Swindle. "There aren't too many who have made it through The Gauntlet that quickly. Looks like we'll be schoolmates, after all."

The thief tried to act cool about it, "Yeah, y'know... It's all about skill." He rubbed his knuckles against the front of his shirt and continued, "Lookin' forward to seein' what this place can teach me. Maybe I'll learn a few more tricks, yah?"

Jinx actually giggled a bit, for reasons even she couldn't think of, "And he's _modest_, too... You've got a ways to go before you can become one of us, though. Let's not get too confident, okay?"

Gizmo eyed the two of them suspiciously and asked Mammoth, "All right, who is that guy and why is Jinx bein' so chummy with him alluvasudden?"

The brute only shrugged, "Maybe she knows him from the orphanage, I dunno. What, you jealous or somethin'?"

The pint-sized genius's temper flared as several blasters popped out of his backpack and aimed themselves at Mammoth's head, "I'M NOT _JEALOUS_, YOU SNOT-MUNCHIN' HAIRBAG!"

The outburst gained the attention of every single person present, causing Gizmo to shrink away and quickly find a hiding place. Jinx snickered a bit as Swindle merely coughed. After another minute, the moment was forgotten.

"Oh, I just remembered something," the hexer said. "Why don't you meet us at the front gates tonight, say a half hour after lockdown?"

The rogue tilted his head, "Huh? What for?"

"Oh, you'll see... Just don't keep us waiting, okay?" she grinned mischeviously before re-joining her friends.

Swindle eyed the trio suspiciously before an administrator called for him at the class sign-up table. His first classes consisted of martial arts training, mathematics, and a few beginning technology courses. They were probably subjects he knew a lot about already, but they didn't have to know that.

The remainder of the afternoon was uneventful, which allowed Swindle to get some much-needed rest after his workout. None of the Titans tried contacting him this time around, although he still decided to leave it in his room to avoid any untimely calls from Starfire. For the rest of the evening, the thief double-checked his equipment and planned a means to avoid detection during the late hours of the night. He had drawn up a few plans when the call for lockdown came, forcing the thief to hide his plans and quickly feign sleep to fool the monitors.

_'Twenty-eight minutes to get outta here. Piece of cake.'_

_**End of Chapter 3**_

_**In Chapter 4 - **Swindle meets up with the trio, where he learns of his initiation. However, when there's trouble, you know who gets called..._


	4. Initiation

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: All disclaimers still apply. Some events here are based off of the opening of "Deception", if you're wondering.

_Chapter 4  
Initiation_

Sneaking out of the dormitory wasn't nearly as difficult as Swindle originally thought. Either Brother Blood encouraged this sort of behavior, or his security was extraordinarily lax. Nevertheless, he made sure he stuck to the shadows and peeked around every corner he came across. Rather than leave through the front doors, the stealthy thief crept out of a ground-floor window and quickly made his way to the wrought-iron gates.

Even with his precautions, Swindle still beat the other three by almost five minutes. In fact, he was found lounging by one of the pillars, idly gazing at his reflection in the blade of one of his daggers.

"Took you guys long enough," the rogue remarked casually, never even turning to face them. "Mammoth get the munchies on the way?"

"What'd you say, stringbean?" the shaggy hulk growled as he loomed over the insulter.

Swindle countered cooly, "Excuse me, but my name's _Swindle_, an' I get grumpy when I'm tired. What is it you guys wanted, anyways?"

Jinx decided to play diplomat, "Oh, we're just planning to go have a little fun. How does the First Federal Bank of Jump City grab you?"

"Hm... Sounds like fun. Window shopping?"

"Nah, just pickin' up a few things on layaway," Gizmo chortled while extending his wings. "Goin' up?"

With that, the technical genius lifted his companions over the wall and onto the street. Swindle gestured for Jinx to get onto his back before looking back to Gizmo.

"How fast does that jetpack thingy go?"

"100 miles per hour, easy. Why?"

"Just checkin'," the thief simply replied before taking off like a shot with the hex-caster screaming wildly behind him. Gizmo and Mammoth glanced at each other in confusion before racing off after them. On the trip, Swindle made an attempt to jog Jinx's memory.

"So, how long've you been in the Hive?"

"Over five years now!" the girl shouted to hear herself. "I don't suppose you could _slow down a bit?_"

"Eh, you'll get used to it! (You did once before...)"

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing!" Swindle said brightly. "How long've you known those two?"

"The same amount of time! We met shortly after I was enrolled! After our entry exams, we decided we made a good team and stuck together ever since!"

"I see... Were you, uh, ever suspended or anything?" the rogue tentatively asked, slowing down as they reached the bank.

"Not that I can remember," Jinx answered, bringing her voice down to normal. "I know Mammoth has been put in detention a bunch of times, but that's it. Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity. If I'm gonna be a member of the team, I should get t' know you."

_'Why do I keep thinking that I know you, though...? Even this seems familiar!' _the sorceress mentally gritted her teeth. _'Urrgh! Why can't I remember?'_

"What about you?" she asked him, hoping to get more information out of this mystery. "How long have you lived here?"

"I think it's goin' on seven months now."

"I would've figured six mon-..." Jinx nodded once before she cut herself off. How did she come up with that?

_'Could it be...?'_ Swindle tilted his head, also wondering to himself. However, the moment didn't last long as Gizmo and Mammoth appeared around the corner.

"Ready to blow this place wide open?" Gizmo asked the others with a wicked smirk on his face.

Only Swindle went against the vote, "Lemme pick the lock open first. We don't wanna alert the you-know-whos, after all..."

While Mammoth and Gizmo grumbled, Jinx again spoke in the rogue's defense, "He's got a point. The last thing we need is for the Titans to show up and ruin our fun."

"Fine, but you get _one_ chance," Mammoth pointed a finger into Swindle's face, which was quickly pushed aside.

"Have some kinda faith in me, will ya?" he muttered back as he reached for his picks. Upon examining the lock, he was actually surprised to see how easy it would be to jimmy open. The senator's mansion-o'-doom had apparently raised his expectations way beyond the norm. A few tweaks and clicks later, the double doors of the bank creaked open. Swindle stood up and faced his companions with an "I told you so" smile on his face.

Everyone filed into the lobby of the bank and scanned around for the vault. Gizmo noticed a security camera about to turn to face them and quickly shorted it out with an electrical blast. Swindle examined the floor for any trap mechanisms, but was even more surprised to find none. With a gesture, he led the others to the vault's door and pressed his ear to it.

"Shouldn't be too hard," he whispered.

"Then get on it already!" Gizmo whispered back impatiently.

Swindle gave a "calm down" gesture with one hand and started working on turning the knob in just the right ways. The other three watched the thief tensely, silently hoping that no alarms get tripped in the meantime. A barely audible "click" soon told everyone that the safe was successfully cracked.

"All right, we should work fast. Be careful of any..." Swindle started to say before a sudden blaring of a klaxon horn cut him off. "...traps."

"Oops," was the gruff-sounding reply.

"Nice. Alright, let's move quickly," the rogue sighed, gesturing for everyone else to spread out and grab what they could.

Jinx wasted no time in finding the gems and necklaces in the safety deposit boxes, while Mammoth attempted to hoist a palette of gold bars over his head and Gizmo sought out the coin and currency. Swindle joined the little genius, but only pocketed a few twenties. A couple of minutes passed before Gizmo made an astute observation.

"Move it, crud-munchers! We're running outta time!"

"I could use a _hand_ here!" Mammoth demanded between huffs and pants.

A familiar voice interrupted the scene, "How 'bout a _foot?_" After a loud smack of metallic boot hitting face, Mammoth was sent across the vault and literally into the far wall. Swindle glanced over the stacks of gold to see the last five people he really wanted to see.

_'Hells bells... They're here.'_

"Titans, GO!"

Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo all split up to take on their opponents, while Swindle frantically searched his belt pouches for something to hide his face.

"Three raids in one week? Man, this is seriously gettin' _old!_" he could hear Cyborg comment through sonic cannon bursts.

_'Three? My, we're an active bunch...'_

"The Hive Academy's new leader must be up to something!" Robin's voice spoke.

The rogue found a small sack and quickly started cutting it up into a makeshift mask, _'You can say **that** again, Robs...'_

"And wouldn't _you_ like to know?" Jinx could be heard taunting her foes, until a loud blast followed by her shriek cut in.

"_Yes, we would!_ Do you not know that your wonderful friend, Swipe, is searching the city for you?" Starfire demanded. Apparently she was the one doing the blasting.

Swindle gritted his teeth and wrapped the new eyemask around his head. He jumped out from his hiding place to survey the battlefield; Jinx was now nimbly dodging Starfire's follow-up starbolts while Robin and Raven were trying to dispel Gizmo's holograms. Mammoth, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had yet to be accounted for.

"I don't know who you're talking about," the sorceress replied as she twirled in place, casting her spells in an almost helter-skelter manner. Accuracy didn't matter, however, as large chunks of the ceiling fell all around the Tamaranean and caused her to briefly fall back.

"Swipe was your dearest friend!" the Titan girl answered back. "The two of you danced together at the Zone of the Retro! You do not remember?"

"Let me think. Hm, doesn't ring a bell!" Jinx cast several more hex-bolts at Starfire, forcing her enemy further back.

A sudden scream from above alerted everyone to Gizmo's true location, while an accompanying feral howl told Swindle where Beast Boy must be. Mammoth had been busy trying to match strength with Cyborg until he shifted his stance and hurled the Titan over his shoulder. To stop Gizmo's pursuer, the brute picked up a large chunk of fallen ceiling and flung it at the deinonychus-morphed changeling. He only had a split second to stand smugly before he was shoulder tackled by Cyborg once again.

Raven had now turned her attention to Jinx, with bits of their old animosity rising up again. Hexes collided with shadow magic, and a few physical blows were exchanged, until...

"_Azarath... Metrion..._"

Up to this point, Swindle had been content to watch his fellow students in action as they seemed to be holding their own fairly well. However, seeing Jinx in immediate danger caused him to move without even thinking.

"_ZINTHOS!_"

Raven's magic had animated Gizmo's discarded money sack and aimed it straight at Jinx. Instead, it was intercepted by Swindle's super-fast body, sending him flying into the stack of gold bars rather than the sorceress. The rogue staggered back to his feet, just in time to witness the cloaked Titan raising up more ammunition to use against her opponent. He cursed under his breath and charged back into the crossfire, deflecting the gold bars with his daggers to the best of his ability as Jinx used her own magic to shoot down others.

The shadow sorceress raised an eyebrow at the new face, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before...?" The rumpled hair, superhuman speed, and exceptionally strong weapons seemed too familiar to her.

Swindle coughed and made his voice deeper, "Nope, never seen ya before in my life. I'm just a new student, that's all."

"Hey, watch this!" Gizmo's voice suddenly rose up over the fighting. Cyborg's surprised shout followed, ending with a loud clang that sounded like it came from the ceiling. Swindle looked over his shoulder to see the robotic Titan suspended by a magnetic device several yards off the ground.

"Oh, no, you did _not just do what I **think** you did!_" Cyborg roared from his new perch. Gizmo simply cackled before both Swindle and Jinx got thrown backwards by a combined effort from Robin, Starfire, and Raven.

Seeing this was pretty much getting them nowhere, Swindle called for his companions, "Looks like we're done for tonight, you guys. Time to am-scray!"

Question marks popped up around Mammoth's head, "What-scray?"

"Vamoose."

"Oh."

The quartet beat a hasty retreat back through the vault's door, with Swindle in the lead. Before she left, however, Jinx decided to throw a parting shot into the floor and keep the Titans busy with the ensuing shockwave. Swindle stood at the doorway with his hand out, which she quickly took and held onto as tight as possible while the rogue raced off once more.

"Nice mask. Is _that_ what you were working on while we were fighting?"

"Yup, thanks. The color matches my eyes, don'cha think?"

She rolled her eyes, "A **_real_** fashion statement..."

Just behind them was Cyborg's screaming, "You ain't turning me into a science fair project and gettin' away with it! GET BACK HERE!"

He couldn't be totally sure, but Swindle thought he heard Robin say, "Don't worry, we'll see them again. Sooner than they think."

Once they returned to the academy and their rooms, Jinx stopped Swindle one last time. In her hand was a hexagonal device emblazoned with a large "H".

"Congratulations," she informed him with a rather sly-looking smile as she handed him the communicator. "You're now one of us."

"Ahh, so that was my initiation? That wasn't such a chore," he remarked while accepting the gift.

"Just be glad we didn't go with Gizmo's idea. He wanted to make you wear a chicken suit for a week."

Swindle chortled, "Not surprised. Thanks for convincing them otherwise."

"Thank _you_ for keeping Raven off my back. I'd say we can call it even," she grinned a bit wider. "G'night, Swindle. See you in the morning, I'm sure."

"G'night, Jinx. Yeah, I'm sure you will."

With that, they both returned to their rooms and shut their doors. No sooner had the weary rogue flopped onto his bed than the Titans' communicator started beeping from under his pillow. He was about to open it when he realized he still had his mask on.

"Swipe! It is I, Starfire! I have very urgent news! _Very_ urgent!"

He quickly threw the mask onto his duffel bag while trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, "Calm down, Sweetcheeks. What's the news?"

"We have located the Hive Academy! Jinx has been found, as well! But, I warn you, she has no memory of you or anything that you did together."

"Yeah, I know..."

Starfire blinked, "What did you say?"

"Um.. I meant, 'Yeah, I'm sure.' After all, if my head got all screwed up by that guy, then it's a safe assumption that Jinxie'd be brainwashed somehow. Anyway, where's the Hive Academy at? I've been lookin' around, but I haven't had much luck."

"I shall up the load to your communicator," after she spoke, a small map appeared in the viewscreen which basically indicated his exact location.

The rogue continued to feign ignorance, "Thanks, Star. You don't know how much this means to me."

"I welcome you," the alien girl replied brightly. "I wish you the very best of luck in rescuing Jinx. Raven told me how much you worried about her while you were recovering."

For a moment, he let his guard down and showed a more somber side of himself, "I still worry about her... It just feels like she's right within my reach, an' yet I can't quite touch her."

Starfire smiled warmly, "I am confident that you will be successful. I know it is getting late, but I could not resist alerting you to our new findings. Rest well, friend Swipe. I hope we will see each other again soon."

"Same here, Sweets. Same here..." he sighed with a bit of a smile. "G'night, Starfire... and thanks."

The Tamaranean's bright smile was the last thing he saw before the channel was closed. The thief let out another sigh as he got changed for bed, still feeling guilty for the charade he was having to keep up for the sake of getting Jinx back without looking like he was betraying the Titans. After what he said to Terra about her actions, the last thing he wanted to wind up being was a hypocrite.

He crawled into his bed and pulled the sheets up over his head, not expecting to get much sleep.

_**End of Chapter 4**_

_**In Chapter 5 - **Another new student shows up in the Hive Academy, whom Jinx starts to show interest in. To upset the rogue even further, this new beau is actually someone he knows pretty well._


	5. Infiltration

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's notes: Yep, still the same disclaimers from Chapter 1. Most of the events in the next few chapters will elaborate on things that happened off-stage during "Deception". Nope, I'm not dead, nor have I given up on this story. English Lit. class is just taking up a lot of my time right now. Fear not, I'm always keeping this story in the back of my head. :)

_Chapter 5  
Infiltration_

The next few days were rather uneventful for Swindle. There was never any punishment handed down for sneaking out of his room, nor was there any mention that it even happened. His classes were going rather smoothly, as well. The martial arts class was helping him refine his skill with knife fighting, as well as teaching him new tricks to use should he be caught unarmed. His math class gave him a few problems, thanks to his short attention span, but his determination kept him mostly on track. In the technology course, however, the rogue had quickly risen to the top of his class.

Before class started on the third day following their run-in with the Titans, Jinx stopped by Swindle's room and knocked on the already open door. The thief looked up and had to quickly hide the surprised look on his face, as well as the T-com in his right hand.

"Oh, uh, hi Jinx!" he stammered, instantly stuffing the device into his back pocket. "What, uh, brings you here?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. You've been kind of quiet since our trip to the bank the other night."

"Oh, that... Well... I've... uh..." he struggled to find the right words while trying to ignore the protesting Tamaranean voice in his pocket. "I've been thinking about what happened. We got lucky in that nobody was captured or.. um, hurt."

The hexer grinned, easily figuring out who he was mostly referring to, "Don't worry, I'm a big girl. I can handle a few bumps and bruises. Besides, you were the one who helped get Bluebird off my back."

Swindle blinked several times as the nickname took a moment to register, "Bluebird?"

"It's short for 'Bluebird of Unhappiness'," she giggled a bit. "Just a little nickname we made up for Raven."

"Heh. Yeah, I see whatcha mean... But, um... Well, I had to do something or else you were gonna get hammered by that sack of money. I mean, we are a team, after all. Right?"

"That's why you have _that_ now, isn't it?" Jinx answered with a smirk, pointing at the Hive's communicator just as she noticed the gold chain hanging from a nearby belt loop on his shorts. "Hm? What's this, a bracelet? How did you come across this little item?"

"It's a... uh... memento from someone I knew. I got it for her after the first week..."

"_'Her'?_" the sorceress echoed, interrupting him. "Your girlfriend, perhaps?"

Swindle smirked, holding back a chuckle, "Yeah, you could say that. We were startin' to get pretty close, but then she moved away before I even got a chance to say goodbye to her. All I've got to remember her by is this..."

Before Jinx could ask more questions, the bell for the first period sounded and cut the conversation short.

"Damn, there's the bell... Well, I'll see you after class, Swindle. Study hard!" Jinx said before running off, throwing a wink at him over her shoulder. She couldn't help but wonder why it seemed like he thought it was _funny_ that they were talking about his former girlfriend.

The rogue just stood at the door and watched her leave, murmuring to himself, "See ya later, Jinxie. I'm gonna find a way to break whatever spell the headmaster's got you under, I promise."

Much later, during lunchtime, Swindle took a seat with his other new friends: Bumblebee, SeeMore, and another student by the name of Billy Numerous. All were greeted with a friendly wave of his hand, which was soon returned.

"Well well well," said Numerous in his thick Southern drawl. "Looky whut we got here. If'n it ain't the new big man on campus! Yer makin' quite a name fer yerself 'round here, Swindle."

"Is that so? I didn't think I'd get so popular in such a short time."

Bumblebee nodded, "We all heard about what you did during the entry exam. They say you set a record, and Gizmo's starting to get just a little jealous of you."

"Lemme guess, he was the original title holder."

SeeMore shook his head. "Rumor has it that Jinx has got a bit of a crush on you," he explained with a bit of a smirk. "It's also pretty well-known around here that ol' Gizmo has a soft spot for her, too. Although you'd never get him to openly admit it."

"I wondered why I kept getting those death-glares from him," Swindle chuckled a bit, while musing to himself that history does tend to repeat itself. He was then reminded of what he wanted to ask his fellow students, "Oh, hey, I've been wondering about something... Have there been any, uh, 'field trips' to different places? Like, say... the First Federal Bank of Jump City?"

"Yeah, we git tested every once 'n a while," Numerous answered. "I passed mine with _flyin'_ colors! Made off with some high quali-tee construction materials, I did. Ain't that right, fellers?"

"**_You-u-u betcha!_**" a chorus of Billy duplicates shouted from practically everywhere.

A bead of sweat ran down the side of Swindle's forehead while he continued to dig for more information, "Has the headmaster told you guys what this project's all about?"

"Not yet, no," Bumblebee answered. "We figure it's some kind of high-tech weapon, since Gizmo is the only one overseeing it right now. All we're doing is getting the components for it. After the show you put on, I wouldn't be surprised if the headmaster assigns you a mission in the next day or two."

As they continued chatting, the rogue noticed another new face making his way past them. The young black man looked damnably familiar, although Swindle couldn't quite put his finger on it. The newcomer's outfit was fairly simple-looking; a regular, gray t-shirt with black pants with a metallic headband directly above his eyes. He was practically a mountain of muscle, and looked to be on par with Mammoth in terms of physical strength.

The rogue indicated the youth with a thrust of his chin, "Hey, who's that guy? I didn't see him during orientation."

Everyone else turned in their seats to follow their friend's gaze. Bumblebee was the first to respond, "Couldn't tell you. I guess he was a last-minute entry."

"An' he's already askin' fer trouble," Billy added. "He's sittin' where Mammoth, Gizmo, an' Jinx usually sit."

Sure enough, no sooner had the youth sat down than the trio was already looming behind him. Swindle strained his ears to listen in on them while the others only watched from where they were sitting.

"You're in my seat," Mammoth grunted as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hey, newbie! This is _our_ table! What d'you think you're doin' here?" Gizmo added.

"You look awfully familiar, though..." Jinx also commented, eyeing the new student suspiciously.

"What's yer name, punk?" the brute started interrogating.

The new student opened his mouth to respond, but Gizmo cut him off, "I'll bet it's something _lame_. Lemme guess, Snotmuncher? No, no, no, wait! **_Captain Nosepicker!_**"

The hex-caster narrowed her eyes while she studied him further, "Do you even _have_ any powers?"

The newcomer barely had a chance to answer when Mammoth reached down and grabbed the sloppy joe right off his tray. As he shoved the food into his mouth, he let out another grunt, "I'm hungry... (urp) Now, get lost!"

"Yeah, scum! Take a hike!" the techno-geek chimed in again, this time throwing a disc-shaped device under his victim's chair. The object released a spring-loaded punching glove that immediately sent the new guy flying. It didn't take long for most of the cafeteria to erupt into laughter at the misfortune.

Swindle only sighed, "Another addition to the nameless rabble..."

The scene wasn't over yet, though. After picking himself up, the new student growled and slammed his fists together. His whole body suddenly transmuted from flesh and blood to dark gray rock. With another loud shout, he smashed those same fists into the table and sent the whole thing into the distant wall. The laughter abruptly stopped, and the trio could only stare in surprise.

"My name is _Stone_," the young man finally said. "And you guys need a new table."

"Not bad..." Mammoth mumbled, looking back at the destroyed table.

"Interesting..." Swindle also commented under his breath.

Jinx shrugged a little, adding confidently, "Let's just see how he does in Combat Practice."

_"May I have your attention, please. Would Swindle, SeeMore, and Jinx please report to the headmaster's office for your next assignments. Once again, --"_

"Looks like you guys're up," Bumblebee remarked over Brother Blood's voice. "Good luck, Swindle. Show 'em what you've got."

"Thanks, Bee. Although," the rogue put on a light British accent. "In my experience, there's no such _thing_ as _luck_. Come on, See."

"Right behind you, Boss."

"Wait up for me, you two!" Jinx called as she ran to catch up. Just before they exited the cafeteria, the sorceress turned and gave her friends a parting wave.

Swindle again glanced back at the new student. He still couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen the guy before, and his voice sounded even more familiar. That guy definitely wasn't at orientation, so chances are good that his mind hadn't yet been reprogrammed by Brother Blood's psionics. If so, the rogue might have a valuable ally if the situation arose. He wouldn't have long to dwell on the subject before they all arrived at the headmaster's office, where they were ushered into a smaller briefing room.

"Ah, good. You're all here. I have a new assignment for you," Brother Blood greeted them as he closed the double doors behind him. "There is a rumor going around that Wayne Enterprises has developed a regulator chip that will withstand high temperatures. I'd like you three to... 'acquire' one."

Swindle rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I dunno if that'll be easy, Teach. I've heard Mr. Wayne makes it a requirement to have the highest level of security for any an' all prototypes. Especially after the incident they had six months ago."

Blood arched a curious eyebrow at the remark, wordlessly requesting more information.

"Hey, it wasn't me that did it. Wish I did, though. They say it was somebody workin' for... Slade..."

Swindle trailed off as realization hit him. He'd heard from his friends that there was a big battle between the Titans and Slade shortly before he arrived in Jump City, and that there was a rumor of one of the Titans actually joining the late criminal mastermind. He always wondered who it was...

Brother Blood's words shook the rogue out of his thought, "Ah, yes, I remember that. A good point, besides... In that case, you should deploy just before midnight. I would assume that security would be a bit lighter then."

SeeMore and Jinx nodded in agreement while Swindle remained in skeptical silence. It took a glare from the headmaster to remind the rogue that he was supposed to be enthralled, prompting a quick nod.

"If there are no questions...?" Silence followed Blood's query. "Excellent, you are dismissed. And Swindle, I'd like for you to lead this operation."

The thief was halfway to the door before he heard his name, "Who, _me? _I- ah.. I'm not really a leader-type person..."

"Nonsense. You have great potential, but you merely lack experience. Tonight should prove to be good practice." The headmaster placed a hand on Swindle's shoulder, "I _know_ you won't fail me."

Swindle swallowed hard and looked over at Jinx and SeeMore, who were silently encouraging him with their smiles. After a moment, he met Brother Blood's gaze as evenly as he possibly could.

"I ain't gonna fail tonight. Count on it."

_**End of Chapter 5**_

_**In Chapter 6** - The rogue gets the chance to not only show off his thieving skills some more, but to also dip into his darker side... Wait, Swipe has a **dark** side?_


	6. Corruption

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: Yes, I am alive! Same disclaimers apply here, as they always have. I think the AU meter is going to start creeping up as the story progresses, just to let you know.

_Chapter 6  
Corruption_

Wayne Enterprises...

Swindle never thought he'd actually have to break into this building in his entire life. There wasn't anything he personally would find useful in there, nor was it worth the trouble to try picking the ultra-complex locks and bypassing the security checkpoints for a gadget or two...

He also never dreamed he'd actually be running for his life through its hallways.

They had gotten into the building easily enough. For some odd reason, the access hatch in the roof is never guarded. They proceeded to ambush one of the squads of security guards and steal the keycard for the storage rooms. Upon securing the regulator chip, another quartet of guards tried to ambush them in return.

Swindle dealt with two of the guards by using a roundhouse sweep while Jinx and SeeMore threw the remaining two into the wall with their energy blasts. This sent the entire building into red alert status, bringing the trio to their current predicament.

They were now running like crazy amid a storm of gunfire, with Swindle occasionally turning to fling a handful of knives at their attackers. After rounding several corners and hiding in the shadows of the corridor, they managed to shake the guards for the time being.

As soon as he was sure they were out of earshot, Swindle breathed a sigh of relief, "That was mighty close..."

SeeMore tapped the rogue's shoulder, "And getting closer." He pointed to the squad of troopers standing fifteen feet away from them with their weapons aimed and ready.

"Just hand over the chip and nobody gets hurt," the squad leader informed them.

"Umm, okay," Swindle replied, earning slack-jawed expressions from his teammates. "Here, catch!"

Without any other warning, Swindle tossed the container at them in a high, arcing lob. As the guards tensed up to grab the container out of the air, the rogue was already upon them. Vicious elbow smashes brought two guards down before they even knew what was happening. A few slashes of the thief's daggers dismembered another guard's weapon before a hard kick to the face sent him sprawling. Swindle then grabbed the end of the last guard's gun, tore it out of his hands, and used it as an improvised club. With all four guards knocked out, Swindle tossed the gun aside just in time to catch the container as it came back down.

"Guess I kinda lied about that, seein' as how you guys _did_ get hurt," the rogue said with a smirk.

"More company's coming..." Jinx groaned, looking over her shoulder as the sounds of booted feet thumped towards them. "Can we get out of here now? _Please?_"

Swindle glanced about the hallway in search of a stairway and found one leading upward at the far end, "Yeah, right up there. Let's move!"

The trio quickly ascended the stairs, but SeeMore noticed yet another group of soldiers heading their way from the opposite end of the corridor. After a warning shout to his friends, the cyclopian fired off a ball of red energy from his single eye. A moment of silence followed, broken only by a muffled explosion and several shouts of surprise and pain.

"Nice Spot check, See," the thief remarked with a grin. "Now, let's keep moving. Who knows how many more troops Mr. Wayne has on reserve."

They continued running down hall after hall and up stairway after stairway. At last, they had reached the rooftop with several more security guards hot on their heels.

"Move outta the way. I'll buy us some time," Jinx ordered, fixing her gaze upon the large Y that loomed over them. Once Swindle and SeeMore were clear, she chanted a few arcane words and threw a curved bolt of pink energy at the supports for the sign. She then did a backwards handspring to avoid the falling structure, so that it slammed down on the access panel and pinned it shut.

"There. Now, let's get back to the academy. I'm tired, sweaty, and _desperately_ in need of a freshening-up," the sorceress informed her friends while nervously fluffing her hair.

"You look fine to me..." Swindle mused shortly before Jinx's sharp glare caused him to rephrase himself. "Right, right. Sorry. I'll get us outta here," he said quickly while attaching a grappling line to the fallen letter and handed the firing device to SeeMore. He pointed to a small button near the thumb-grip, "See that? Hit that release switch once you an' Jinx are over the side. You'll drop right down to the sidewalk."

"What about you?"

"I'll cover you two. That blockade probably won't hold up forever, so I wanna make sure you're on solid ground first."

The thief's friends exchanged concerned glances before several loud thuds erupted from the blocked hatch. Swindle turned to focus on the panel before glancing over his shoulder again.

He scowled at both of them and shouted, "What the hell're ya waitin' for! MOVE!"

Jinx and SeeMore nodded rapidly and began their descent, with the sorceress holding onto See's shoulders. Just as the two of them disappeared past the ledge, the access panel was blown off by an explosive charge. Swindle gripped one of his daggers tightly while he prepared a few throwing knives for the guards' arrival. The instant he saw a helmeted head pop up through the rubble, he sent the whole handful flying. Many of them clanged noisily off the metal of the sign and caused a brief moment of retreat, just enough to ensure the rogue a clean getaway of his own.

A few wall-jumps later, Swindle was reunited with his comrades on the street below just as a hailstorm of gunfire fell from the rooftop. Swindle shielded himself with his daggers while he tossed the chip to his cyclopian friend and gestured for a full withdrawal. Jinx cast one last spell at the large sign, which rusted out the supports to the "W" and sent it crashing down around the guards' heads. All three were smiling confidently as they were certain that they were going to get the chip back to the headmaster without any more problems. However, one last obstacle stood in their way just a few miles down the street.

"Great," muttered the rogue, "the Teen Titans again..."

He noticed that Cyborg wasn't with them, a curious bit of information. He also could've sworn he had heard Beast Boy mention something about not getting it past "Booyah" mode, which really made Swindle wonder...

_"Fight them,"_ a small and familiar voice suddenly spoke to him. Startled, Swindle looked over his shoulder for the voice but found nothing. Neither Jinx nor SeeMore had spoke... No, it couldn't be...

_"Return that chip. Fight the Titans!"_

Was it Brother Blood's voice speaking to him again? Perhaps it was, for he caught a glimpse of Jinx's eyes flaring with dark red energy... Hadn't he shaken that off? He tried to shake off the domination, but this time his thieving instincts started to push him in the opposite direction.

_"FIGHT! Fight to WIN!"_

"Fight... to win..."

Without another moment's worth of thought, Swindle put up his fists and assumed his combat stance. Whether he was acting on his own free will or not wasn't known to him. All he knew was that he was putting every bit of force into his punches and using everything he'd learned from his classes into his technique. He didn't even seem to be bothered by the fact that his opponent was a very bewildered Tamaranean girl who had been his friend for but three weeks. He heard her pleas to stop, but did not heed them. At one point, he managed to knock Starfire to the ground with a wicked roundhouse kick and prepared to finish the Titan off when his eyes suddenly flew wide open and shone with renewed clarity.

"What... What am I doing?"

Swindle's hands fell to his sides as he stared aghast at what he'd done. Starfire could only look up at her former friend with a familiar pain squeezing at her heart. A pain that she'd felt not too long ago and hoped she'd never feel again. The rogue looked down to meet her gaze and felt a similar pain in his chest, only this time it was shame and remorse that overtook him. He quickly turned his head away and spoke to his allies with a somber voice.

"Guys, fall back."

SeeMore dodged a combined staff-and-tail-slap attack, "Say what? We can't run now!"

"We gotta get this chip back. This fighting's only gonna slow us down. _Fall. Back._" Swindle repeated.

"The headmaster made him the leader, SeeMore. Besides, he does have a point about the chip," Jinx replied after tumbling out of the path of Raven's shadowbolts.

Begrudgingly, the other two students broke off from combat and started sprinting back in the direction of the academy. Only Swindle remained behind for a moment, with his eyes still cast to the ground and unable to bring himself to look at Starfire again.

The Titan girl spoke softly, her voice quaking just a little, "Swipe, can this really be true? You have joined the Hive? You are... evil?"

Swindle grimaced at her last word as if it had pierced him. Through gritted teeth, he answered her with a quiet "I'm sorry" and dashed off without another word.

Robin helped Starfire to her feet, "Are you okay, Star?"

A few tears gathered in her eyes as she drew her arms up around herself, "No... I do not believe that I am..."

That night, when Swindle returned to his room, he sat at the edge of his bed and stared at the T-comm he'd practically earned from the Titans after helping them defeat Slade. The pained look in Starfire's bright green eyes haunted him, as did the mesmerized glow that lingered in Jinx's. The rogue gripped the device tightly in his hand and, swearing aloud, threw it to the far side of his room. For the first time in his life, he had no idea what he was going to do next.

He flopped onto his back and tried his best to fall asleep. Like so many nights before, he didn't expect much success.

On the other side of Jump City, Starfire remained in her room for the remainder of the night. She never even tried to go to sleep, and no amount of mustard could cheer her up.

_**End of Chapter 6**_

**_In Chapter 7_** - _Swindle must keep up the appearance of being a Hive student as he tries to cope with what he's done. Matters are made worse when a certain sorceress starts to take a liking to a certain other newcomer to the academy..._

_Author's Notes: After watching "Lightspeed," I believe I see a mind-bending duel between two fellows with super-speed in the future. Striking similarities in that episode, wouldn't you say?_


	7. Competition

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (a.k.a. SecondLevelWriter)  
Author's Notes and Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers listed in the last chapters still apply here. If you have any questions, press F1 for Help. Fear the (AU) tag!

_Chapter 7  
Competition_

The next morning, Swindle trudged his way to class with Billy Numerous soon meeting his stride.

"Dang, Swindle! What side of th' bed didja get up on today? Ya look like death warmed over!"

"Not now, Numerous. I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm _not_ a morning person."

Billy stopped short and watched the grouchy thief walk on, "Sheesh, s'not like Ah ment it _personal_-like..."

Further ahead, the rogue ran into Jinx. She noticed the extreme fatigue in his face and body and gave him a look of concern.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" she asked him.

Swindle shook his head, "Barely an hour and a half... Why?"

"I got maybe two hours in. Something kept bothering me about what had happened..."

"What d'you mean?"

Jinx gestured for him to follow her to the gymnasium and kept her voice down while she explained, "I haven't told anyone else about this, but I get these... I don't know... these weird feelings... feelings like there's something inside me that's screaming to get out."

At last, some promising news.

"Like what?" he prodded.

"Take the other week, when we were at the bank. I don't know why, but I felt like I didn't want to fight Starfire. I felt like she'd been my friend at some point, but..." She nervously laughed it off, "Come on. Me, befriending a Teen Titan? That'd be like Mammoth saying he was gonna get low-fat ice cream!" They both gave a little chuckle at the notion, although the rogue tried to hide the sadness in his.

Jinx continued, "But last night, something else felt familiar. Like... Like I had been sneaking around someplace with someone before, but..." She let out a growl of frustration, "It's _there! _I _know_ it's there! But, I can never recall who..."

The rogue grasped at the gold bracelet on his belt loop and mumbled, "I wish you would..."

"What?"

He shook his head, "Nothing." After a brief silence, Swindle noticed where they were going and asked his friend, "Hey, um, why're we goin' to the gym?"

"Don't you remember what I said yesterday? We've got Combat Practice. You, me, the guys, and Stone."

The rogue gave his friend a quizzical look, "Who the hell's St--? Oh, right. The new guy."

They each opened a door to the gym and found the others waiting, including Brother Blood. Swindle heaved a heavy sigh upon seeing the obstacle course ready and waiting for him, and felt what little stamina he had drain swiftly away. He felt a pat on his shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Swindle, believe me. Still, we have to put on a good show for the headmaster," Jinx replied quietly before running the rest of the way to greet her companions.

Swindle approached the starting platform like a drugged bear, giving only vague nods to the others. Even through his sleep-deprived haze, he noticed that Stone bore a striking resemblance to Cyborg... that is, if Cyborg were all human. Maybe he's got a brother or something?

The panel they were standing on suddenly started to rise, stopping when it was twelve feet high. All five took on their battle stances, although Swindle was last to do so.

The ending platform rose up on the farthest side of the room soon after. Everyone tensed, as Jinx said over her shoulder, "Gamma maneuver!"

Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth all leapt from the platform in formation, leaving Stone to yell in desperation, "Hold up! I don't know the Gamma maneuver!"

Swindle drew his daggers and made a lackluster attempt at his own jump, "It's okay. I don't either. Just keep runnin' forward and kick the ass outta anything not-human." After a short moment to collect his strength, he gritted his teeth and tore off after his friends, immediately going to work on cutting down a pair of drones that were already threatening Jinx. Stone shrugged and followed suit shortly after, transmuting into his stone body and hammer-punching through the droids that his companion left behind.

The run seemed about the same to the rogue, which actually was a good thing. Gizmo's missiles wiped out the wall-mounted turrets and nothing else seemed to be getting in their way.

"I'm gonna finish fir-rst! I'm gonna finish fir-rst!" the little cyberpunk started singing as he streaked towards the finish line with his jetpack. His celebration was cut short when a new feature made itself known: several metallic spikes burst up from the floor, threatening to impale Gizmo. A few skilled maneuvers saw him through, while brute strength and a more direct approach worked better for Mammoth. Swindle simply zigzagged through the metal forest, never once having to cut through with his daggers. Meanwhile, Stone found himself overwhelmed by four of the combat drones and was still pinned down just yards in front of the starting platform.

Gizmo snickered and pointed at the helpless transmute, "Hey, lookit, the newbie's already toasted!"

"Hey, Rocko! Had enough yet or what?" Mammoth joined in the taunting, until Jinx ran up to scold them.

"Stop fooling around! The headmaster's watching!" she pointed up into the stands where the stately villain was indeed looking on.

Swindle ran past the three of them and cut down another spike, adding mostly to himself, "Unless he's holding up a 'Swindle 3:16' sign, I'm not even gonna turn around."

Three more ground turrets sprouted up behind the rogue and sent out metallic tentacles after the others. Jinx was immediately wrapped up in one and held aloft, followed by Gizmo and Mammoth. Swindle turned back to help just as Stone managed to break away from his captors. The rogue indicated his targets with his daggers and his partner nodded. Just as they were about to perform their ad libbed strike, a pair of turrets sprung up and immediately charged their cannons.

"Dude! Watch out behind ya!" Swindle shouted just before flinging a few knives at the tentacles to try to cut down his friends. The metal plating was tougher than he thought, as the projectiles clinked harmlessly off of them. A loud string of various curses soon followed.

Seeing this, Stone changed his plan in mid-execution. Instead, he leapt over his entangled comrades and pulled a couple of panels from the floor. He then spun around once to fling them at the tentacles like gigantic frisbees, thereby freeing the others and also taking out the two cannons in the process. Swindle helped pull Gizmo and Mammoth free while Stone assisted Jinx, then made a mad scramble towards the finish line to finally put the test to and end.

"Well, _that_ woke me up..." Swindle grunted while he sheathed his daggers.

Stone, meanwhile, was celebrating quite noisily, "Awww _yeah_! Now _that's_ what I'm talki---"

"Can it! The headmaster's comin'!" Gizmo sharply cut him off.

Sure enough, Brother Blood was descending on his levitating platform and he already sounded preturbed, "**_YOU!_** You've broken into my school, destroyed my gymnasium, and made my best students look like amateur _pickpockets_!"

"I can't help it that I'm having an off d-MMPH!" Swindle nearly protested, but Mammoth's huge hand stopped him short.

Blood continued, still focusing a steely glare upon Stone, "You think you're pretty clever, don't you? Well, you are _not_ clever..."

Everybody in the room remained tense, waiting to see what would happen to the newcomer.

"... You're _brilliant!_ Skills like yours are invaluable to the academy! Well done!"

The tension was relieved, and nobody was breathing a heavier sigh of relief than Stone. "Uh, thanks! Nice... school you have here, Mister... uh..."

"Blood, Brother Blood. At your service." They shook hands in official greeting before the headmaster continued, "I see a very bright future ahead for you, young man." His tone soon changed, however, when he turned to face the others, "And as for **you three...**"

Swindle wisely decided to take a very large step to his right to avoid being caught in the verbal barrage. The remaining trio was already cowering before the yelling had even started.

"**Failure will NOT be tolerated in this academy! You are already here on a second chance and if you _EVER_ fail me again, _I'LL SEND YOU TO YOUR DOOM!_** Is that clear?"

The three students' eyes briefly glowed red as they answered in monotoned unison, "Yes, sir."

Swindle took a chance and cleared his throat, "Um, Teach? Jinx an' I probably didn't do our best because of our mission last night. It went on pretty late because of our run-in with the Titans."

Brother Blood raised an eyebrow, "I suppose that's true... Very well, I'll let you off the hook this time. But **next** time..."

"Send us to our doom. Right. Gotcha." the rogue was already climbing down on his way out the door, too tired to care if he would get in trouble or not. "I think I left my pillow... I mean, bookbag... in my room. I'll be back in about forty winks... minutes... seconds... somethin'."

The headmaster's left eye twitched at the insolent remark, making those who saw it cringe with fear. Instead, he cleared his throat and addressed the students, "Just to let you know, I will personally be having a lecture in room 219 tomorrow. I'd like as many of you to be there, including you, Swindle."

There was a noticable twitch in the rogue's posture when he heard his name. Just as he turned around to ask why he had to be there, he noticed something else that made his heart nearly stop. Jinx was looking rather fondly at Stone.

"Thanks for, um, getting me- er, us out of that trap, Stone," he could hear her say. Her cheeks showed just a hint of a blush, which made Swindle's jaw drop further. Stone only scratched at the back of his head and said nothing, looking quite nervous and embarrassed in this position. Nobody could hear the sound of the rogue's teeth grinding...

Even after his first-period nap, Swindle went back to his room to spend his lunch break. After everything that had happened, he didn't have much of an appetite. He'd lost the trust of the Titans, hurt Starfire in the process, and now the idea of saving Jinx was beginning to slip further and further away from him.

He fished the communicator out of his duffel bag and stared at it for a moment. If anything, there was at least one thing he could make right at that moment. Swindle pressed the call button and waited. For several minutes, there was no answer.

"Come on, I know one of you's out there," he muttered to himself.

After several more presses, Starfire's face appeared on the screen. She said not a word, and only stared at him with those piercing emerald eyes. He almost wished that she would just blast him and get it over with.

It took a moment for the rogue to find his voice again, "S-Starfire... I'm... I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you... but, I..."

The hurt in her eyes showed clearly again as she bit her lower lip. Without another word, the communicator disconnected. Swindle's heart sank as he sat there, still gazing blankly into the darkened screen.

"Well, Swipe," he muttered to himself, "you've really done it this time..."

The bell signaling the end of lunch took him out of his melancholy thoughts, prompting him to grab his bag and head out for the next class. On his way, he heard some familiar sniggering in a nearby hallway and decided to investigate. He found Gizmo first, who only looked over his shoulder and exploded into more laughter.

"The hell's so funny?" the rogue asked with a tilted head. Gizmo only pointed towards something further down the hall. Swindle followed the finger to the silhouette of a rather large guy in a ballerina's outfit.

Wait, what?

The guy turned out to be Stone and, as Mammoth later explained, this was his initiation. Stone was to accompany Jinx to her next class and carry her books for her, all while wearing a bright pink tutu. Just as they were getting ready to venture out into public view, Swindle volunteered to join them. All three walked out into the main hall and were instantly met with gales of laughter from the other students. Jinx walked ahead with an almost blissful look on her face, perhaps at the thought of Stone's sacrificing his dignity for them... for her.

Halfway down, Swindle decided to try cheering both himself and Stone up a little, "Hey, look at it this way. It could've been worse."

"How?" the transmute muttered back.

"Gizmo wanted _me_ to wear a chicken outfit."

"I think I'd rather wear _that_..."

While the rogue gave a lighthearted laugh, a small thorn had already begun to dig its way into his heart.

_**End of Chapter 7**_

_**In Chapter 8** - Things couldn't be worse for Swindle. Jinx has fallen for Stone, the Titans no longer trust him, and there's a dance looming just around the corner._


	8. Machination

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (a.k.a. SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Note: Standard procedure. Disclaimers from the first chapter are the same here. I am the law, but I'm not Sylvester Stallone.

_Chapter 8  
Machination_

The lunch bell had sounded, but Swindle was not in any mood to eat. Further attempts to contact the Titans had only produced nothing but static, and the knowledge that Jinx was getting more and more infatuated with Stone didn't help his depression.

With an uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm, the rogue plodded to the lunch hall and collected his tray of food. On his way to his second usual spot with Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo, he spotted Bumblebee waving him over. At first, he was going to politely decline the offer, but rescinded once he saw that Stone had sat down beside Jinx (which was going to be his spot).

"You look bad, Swindle," the girl commented. "Still can't sleep?"

Swindle shook his head, "The last two nights have sucked royally, Bee..."

"Anything you wanna share?"

"Before I start, uh..." He checked over his shoulder and brought his voice down, "Can you keep a secret?"

Bumblebee shrugged a little, "Sure."

"Alright. First off, my name's not really Swindle. It's Swipe."

She blinked twice, "_Swipe!_ Not... uhm..." She also checked over her shoulders before continuing at a low whisper, "Not _the_ Swipe who helped the Titans take down Slade a couple months ago?"

He blinked back, "How the hell'd you know that?"

Bee beckoned her friend closer, "I'm their inside contact."

"Get outta here."

"No, seriously. I've been communicating the Hive's activities to 'em these past few weeks. Are you the one that they were gonna send in to help me?"

"Uh..." Swindle stammered, caught off-guard by the info. "Uhh... I... don't think so. I came here on my own."

"What for? You don't look like the evil-type to me."

"It's kind of a long story, but I basically came here for..."

A fit of snickering caused the thief to pause and see what was going on. At the other table, Stone had just noticed a device that Gizmo planted in his mashed potatoes and quickly flicked it back onto the techie's tray when he was distracted. Jinx and Mammoth were trying their hardest not to blow the gag by covering their mouths with both hands. Gizmo shot his companions a strange look before going to take a spoonful of potatoes, thus causing the device to burst and send a mountain of food all over Gizmo's head. Naturally, the entire cafeteria exploded into laughter, except for Swindle and, to a lesser extent, Bumblebee.

The rogue sighed and finished his original sentence as he indicated the hex-caster with a vague gesture, "... for her."

"Who? Jinx?" Swindle nodded before Bumblebee pressed, "What the heck _for_? I'm sure you've noticed that she's not a very nice person."

Swindle gave a rather wistful smile, "Oh, she is. Once you get past all that... well, all that Jinx-iness."

The Titan gave him an "tell-me-more" smirk, but the rogue held up a hand.

"Ohh, no. I'm not gonna divulge any of Jinxie's..."

"_Jinxie?_"

The rogue mentally facepalmed.

"Is that what you called her?" the girl asked excitedly, making Swindle worried about drawing any attention. In fact, the thief quickly clapped a hand over Bee's mouth just to be safe.

"Leave it," he advised her. "The important thing is that I want to get her outta here an' away from Brother Blood. Whatever he did to her made her forget who she was."

This brought the Titan spy back into her business mode, "His ability to psionically dominate a large number of subjects. I'm surprised you managed to break out of it."

Swindle grinned and rested his chin on the backs of his hands, "It's amazing how fond memories can keep one's mind occupied."

Bumblebee chuckled quietly, "So, then you weren't sent by Titans at all?"

"Nope. I came on my own. They... didn't know that I came here."

Bumblebee noticed his hesitation, "I take it you ran into them during your mission the other night?"

Swindle nodded and shut his eyes, "The Teach took over my head... I was already focused on trying to get away, so I couldn't shut it out like I did before. I'm worried that I've lost their trust." He looked back up at Bumblebee, "I mean, if I wanted to backstab 'em, I would've done it already. Like Terra... did..."

As he trailed off, he looked back over at the table where Jinx and the others were sitting and felt his heart sagging in his chest. Bumblebee cleared her throat to regain his attention.

"Tell you what. I'll see if I can help you with Jinx, if you'll help me with my mission."

Swindle laughed, "I'd help _Slade_ if it meant getting Jinx back. What's your mission?"

Before Bumblebee could answer, Brother Blood's now-familiar voice cut in over the loudspeakers, "_Attention, all students. The lecture will be starting in twenty minutes in Room 219. All that can attend, must. Once again..._"

"Bah, that's right. I almost forgot that the Teach wanted me to be there. Can't understand why..." the rogue grunted.

"He's spoken quite highly of you. Those daggers that you've got seem to be what caught his attention. I think he said that it would take quite a skilled thief to steal weapons like those," the undercover Titan replied. "After you kinda disrespected him, Blood probably felt like you needed a little re-education."

"He can re-educate me all he wants. I ain't gonna give in to him, not after what I've been through already. Thanks fer listening to me, Bee."

"Anytime. I'll even put in a good word for you with the Titans."

With that, they both put away their lunch trays and went their separate ways. Swindle noticed that Jinx and Stone were walking just ahead of them. He could only hear smatterings of their conversation and the occasional giggle, but each time Jinx edged closer to Stone (not regarding the fact that Stone promptly edged that same distance away each time) caused the fire in the rogue's heart to burn just a little stronger.

He made up his mind right then and there, just as he took his seat for the lecture. If he was to get Jinx out of this academy, he'd first have to get Stone out of the picture.

By any means necessary, if it came to that.

After two hours of Brother Blood's lecturing, Swindle was fighting off the urge to nod off. He was seated two rows back, not even half-listening to the headmaster while he sketched a crude dagger on his notepad. From his line of sight, the tip of the blade was pointed straight for Stone's head. After a while, he started sketching Stone's profile with the intent of making several more daggers surround it.

As he drew, he started thinking of how his subject looked so familiar to him and how he got in without being in orientation. The rogue mentally pieced together the information he had: The Titans were one short when he encountered them during the Wayne mission, and that one just happened to be Cyborg; Bumblebee's mentioning of someone being sent by the Titans to assist her but never showing up; and the fact that from the right side, Stone looks... _exactly like Cyborg._

Swindle paused a moment at this revelation. Why didn't he see it sooner? He hastily filled in cybernetic areas over the profile and colored the eye in with a red ink pen. It _was!_ Stone _is_ really Cyborg! Then... _what's he doing letting Jinx get so close to him!_

Brother Blood's voice cut through the rogue's train of thought, "So, that's why any good doomsday threat needs... what?"

Despite Gizmo's Horshack impression, Stone was the one who was called on. For a moment, the transmute sat with his mouth hanging open while he thought quickly.

"Uhh, effective misdirection!"

The headmaster nodded, "Very good, Stone. Moving on..."

In that brief moment, Swindle noticed that Jinx was now staring dreamily at Stone while Gizmo stewed in his seat. After a long moment of teeth-grinding and artery-swelling, the rogue decided that enough was enough and coughed loudly to get Brother Blood's attention.

"Another way to ensure cooperation from your target is through the taking of one or more hostages, especially if they have any kind of connection to each other. I speak from experience on that one."

Blood arched an eyebrow and smirked, "That is also true, Swindle. I'm glad to see that you've been paying attention."

_'Oh, I'm paying attention. I'm paying attention to those pink, heart-shaped moths that have gathered over Jinxie's head, no thanks to **you**...'_ Swindle thought sourly as he began to slowly carve a small groove into the desktop with his pencil. _'The bot an' I need to have a talk. That dude **knows** I'm lookin' for Jinx, and the Titans **had** to have told him that they've seen me fightin' against them the other night. I've gotta find out just what the deal is here.'_

The bell rang shortly thereafter. Before Swindle could stop Stone to have that nice, quiet chat, the remaining swarm of students cut him off. He could only watch helplessly as Jinx nearly clung to Stone's arm as she leaned up to whisper something in his ear. Stone blanched at first, but then nodded once. They were too far out of sight for the rogue to know what happened next. However, on the bulletin board beside him, he spotted a flyer advertising the big Hive School dance that was now only two days away.

The sudden sinking feeling in his stomach was lifted just a little when he saw who would be performing...

The Rockin' High Rollers.

He always figured that they liked that spelling better.

_**End of Chapter 8**_

_In Chapter 9 - Well, well, well! Look who else makes a return appearance! Even though nobody's on a mission from some divine entity, we're putting the band back together. Let's just hope Swindle doesn't add his own brand of "punch" to the dance!_


	9. Distortion

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: As usual, all previous disclaimers apply here. "Cum On Feel The Noize" is (originally) owned by Quiet Riot. Also, "The Safety Dance" is originally owned by Men Without Hats. Buy a CD! If you'll recall the last story, lyrics will appear in italics and center-justified.

_Chapter 9  
Distortion_

It's amazing how quickly a day gets here when you don't want it to. Granted, it would be great to see the band again, but there would be no dancing with Jinx this time. Bumblebee gave Swindle a promise to try and distract Stone in an effort to allow the rogue a chance to cut in. Not only would it allow Swindle to try again at jogging Jinx's memory, but the Titan spy could finally link up with her accomplice without raising any suspicion.

Plans had already started to form in Swindle's mind. He knew the first song that Jinx had heard following the night of her attempted suicide, and there was no forgetting their song; the one they danced to at The Retro Zone and realized just how they felt about each other. The biggest question remained: Would hearing those songs be enough to break Brother Blood's domination?

The night of the dance, Bumblebee knocked on Swindle's door. After four tries with no response, she tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. Swinging it open, she found the rogue with a lit candle affixed to each side of his head with a white headband, nailing a Stone plushie to a wall with a large iron spike. Upon realizing that his door was opened, Swindle quickly pulled it all down and behind his back. The only thing left behind was his odd voodoo headband.

"Personal problems, Swindle?" Bumblebee asked with a sardonic tone.

Swindle chuckled nervously, "Not at all! Just, uh, gonna hang a picture!" Meanwhile, there were no picture frames anywhere in his room.

"I can understand your jealousy, but did you ever think that he's just going along with this so that his cover doesn't get blown?"

"Even if this is just an act, he should know that I was searching for Jinx after Blood took her. On top of that, doesn't he realize what'll happen if she ever finds out who he really is?"

"She'll probably put a hex on him so bad, he won't leave the tower for a month," Bumblebee snickered. "You better start getting ready for the dance. It's starting in another couple of hours."

Swindle watched the Titan leave for the auditorium and turned back to the Stone plushie that was still staked to the wall. If Jinx's heart gets broken because of this...

The rogue angrily slammed his mallet onto the spike, driving it so deep that it tore open many of the toy's seams and sent stuffing everywhere. Without another word, he pulled off his voodoo headband and extinguished its candles before picking up a towel and heading to the shower.

After getting himself cleaned up, something he hadn't done since he took Jinx to The Retro Zone, Swindle dressed himself up in his performance outfit. He slipped on a pair of black shorts and his white polo shirt, which was the only polo shirt he owned. He looked at himself in the mirror and frowned at his perpetually unruly hair. He grabbed a comb, resoaked his head, and meticulously combed it into a slicked-back look.

"Man, now I _really_ look evil," he commented to his reflection. "Maybe this'll get her attention, eh?"

Swindle raced from his room towards the auditorium, where music was already starting to play. It wasn't the band, though. Just some recorded stuff. As he feared, it wasn't eighties music.

Inside, he found just about the entire school in attendance, including Jinx and Stone. The thief's teeth started to grind together until he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Bumblebee.

"Here's my idea. I'll ask Sparky to dance, and you can get to talk to Jinx."

Swindle nodded his approval and added, "I've got an idea to put on top of it. I know the band that's playing tonight. If I can get 'em to play a certain song, that's when I'd like to make that move."

Bumblebee shrugged, "Sounds good to me. But, what song is it gonna be?"

The rogue grinned, "Oh, you'll know." He turned and said over his shoulder, "I'll be back in a minute. Got some catchin' up to do."

With that, Swindle zipped up to the stage where the band was getting set up. He stood just behind his old friends and watched for a moment. He then put on his best goofy-stupid-guy voice.

"Duh, s'cuse me, but can you guys play 'Freebird'?"

Everyone turned around at once, their faces lighting up upon recognizing the speaker. There was a sudden reunion as all the guys spoke at once, shaking hands and asking what's been going on these past months. After he explained a little bit of his situation, he had to ask his bandmates the same question.

"How'd you get roped into _this_ job? Don't tell me he mind-controlled you, too."

"We got paid a pretty good amount for this gig," Tim replied. "Mr. Bradley had no problems letting us go for one night after he saw the money."

Jeff happened to glance into the crowd to look for Swipe's girlfriend and saw her still hanging on Stone's arm, "Hey, what's Jinx doing with that guy?"

"That's the other part of my problem," Swindle said. "Jinx doesn't have any memory of us. Therefore, she's developed a big crush on Stone over there."

"I get it! You want to see if reenacting your dance might help her remember?" Mike piped up.

"Exactly."

Jeff shook his head, "The thing with that is that none of these kids look like they'll go for the usual brand of music. In fact, the guy that hired us asked if we knew a lot of pop an' stuff like that."

Swindle grabbed the microphone and immediately started to feel like his old self again, "Leave that to me. You don't mind if I join ya, right?"

"Heh, you know you're always welcome on stage," Tim answered as he got behind his keyboard. "We're ready here, so what's the plan?"

"For this kinda crowd, I was thinkin' 'Cum On Feel The Noize.' Sound good to you?"

Jeff smirked, "You can read a crowd like a book, can't ya?"

"What can I say? It's a talent." He clicked the mic on and addressed the now-confused crowd, "Hey, guys. You're probably wondering what I'm doing up here." Everyone murmured an affirmative, to which the rogue continued, "Well, I can safely say it's 'cuz I'm with the band. We go way back, ya know? Now, don't nobody get upset, but you won't be hearing your usual brand of music tonight." Some protests were heard, but he continued, "In fact, we're gonna play... _eighties music._" The protests got louder, prompting him to raise his hand, "Come on now! Settle down! All we're gonna do is invite you all to come on an' feel the noise!"

With that, Mike started to pound out the beat. Swindle let it go a few more measures before starting the song properly.

_Come on feel the noise!  
Girls **rock** your boys!  
We'll get wild, wild, wild...  
**Wild, wild, wild!**_

Like a young man possessed, Swindle leapt to the very edge of the stage. It certainly felt good to perform again.

_So you think I got an evil mind, I'll tell you honey...  
I don't know why,  
I don't know why!_

_So you think my singing's out of time, it makes me money...  
I don't know why!  
I don't know why - anymore...  
Oh no..._

As he sang, Swindle scanned the crowd for Jinx. Sure enough, she had brought Stone closer to the stage and was watching with noticable interest. He saw Stone ask her something, but she absently shook her head while never taking her eyes off the show.

_So come on feel the noise!  
Girls rock the boys!  
We'll get wild, wild, wild,  
**Wild, wild, wild!**  
Come on feel the noise!  
Girls **rock** your boys!  
We'll get wild, wild, wild,  
Until da-a-awn!_

It seemed that everyone in the audience was getting into the music at this point. Heads were bobbing to the beat of the song while a few had already gotten to dancing a little to it. This brought the rogue's hopes up.

_So you say I got a funny face, I got no worries...  
And I don't know why...  
I don't know why!_

_So ya think I'm-a some disgrace, I'm in no hurry!  
And I don't know why...  
I don't know why - anymore...  
No, no, no!_

_So come on feel the noise!  
Girls rock your boys!  
We'll get wild, wild, wild,  
**Wild, wild, wild!  
**Come on feel the noise!  
Girls **rock** the boys!  
We'll get wild, wild, wild,  
Until da-a-awn!  
**COME ON!**_

Jeff and Mike blasted out the next few riffs, with the guitarist firing out a solo that made the entire auditorium come alive. In the middle of it all, even Jinx was showing a smile. Things couldn't have looked more promising.

_Well you think we are the lazy type, you should know better...  
I don't know why!  
I don't know why!_

_So you say I got a dirty mind, I'm a **MEAN** go getter!  
I don't know why!  
I don't know why - anymore!  
Oh no..._

_Come on feel the noise!  
__Girls **rock** the boys!  
__We get wild, wild, wild,  
__**Wild, wild, wild...!  
**__Come on feel the noise!  
__Girls **rock** your boys!  
__We'll get wild, wild, wild,  
__**WILD, WILD, WILD!**_

Swindle could feel how pumped up the crowd was getting as the song came to its close. A few more song like this, and they'd be ready for the slower stuff. Good thing, too. His voice wouldn't be able to take this kind of abuse for long.

He got the hardest songs out of the way first, with "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and even "Der Kommisar" leaving the students shouting for more. Throughout both songs, Swindle focused on Jinx's expressions. He could see the confusion on her face, as if she couldn't quite place where she had heard this music before.

During a short break between songs, Swindle gathered the band together.

"There's something I wanna try. I remember the first song I was playin' when I made breakfast for her. It was 'Safety Dance,' how's that sound?"

"How sweet that you'd remember that, Swipe!" Jeff teased.

The rogue flushed, "Just play the damn song, alright?"

The opening notes had everyone perplexed for a moment, until Swindle came in under a bright spotlight with a rather crazed look on his face.

_S... A... F... E... T... Y...  
Safety... Dance!_

Stone noticed that Jinx had suddenly stiffened a bit when she heard the music. From the stage, Swindle noticed it as well. He continued speaking:

_We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind.  
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance,  
Well they're - no friends of mine.  
I say, we can go where we want to, A place where they will never find  
And we can act like we come from out of this world  
Leave the real one far behind,  
and we can dance..._

Tim played the unique musical bridge until the familiar rhythm was established and Swindle leapt from the stage, singing the lyrics properly. As he sang, he nearly skipped his way through the crowd as if he were in the music video and stopped at various people to try to gather them into his troupe.

_We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind!  
Cause your friends don't dance and IF they don't dance,  
Well they're - no friends of mine!  
I say, we can go where we want to, A place where they will never find  
And we can act like we come from out of this world  
Leave the real one far behind,  
and we can dance (And Sing!)_

It was now that Jinx's eyes had become as wide as they could go. In her mind, something had once again awakened and was trying to claw through the haze of Brother Blood's mental domination. A memory was trying to form, she could remember hearing this song once before. She faintly remembered falling from a great height and being caught by someone. She could remember pain in her left ankle. Dominating it all was the scent of bacon being cooked...

"Hey... You okay, Jinx?" Stone asked her.

The sorceress only answered with faint singing to the music.

_Ahh.. we can go when we want to the night is young and so am I  
And we can dress real neat from our hearts to our feet  
and surprise 'em with a victory cry!  
_

_Say... we can act if want to if we don't nobody will  
And you can act real rude and totally removed  
And I can act like an imbecile_

The rogue made it to where Jinx and Stone were standing and also attempted to add them to the line of safety dancers. As if she were entranced, Jinx joined in right behind Swindle and thus dragged Stone in behind her.

_I say... we can dance, we can dance - Everything's under control.  
We can dance, we can dance - Doin' it from pole to pole!  
We can dance, we can dance - Everybody look at your hands!  
We can dance, we can dance - Everybody's takin' the cha-a-ance  
Safety dance!  
Oh, the safety dance...  
Ah yes, the safety dance!  
_

_S... A... F... E... T... Y..._

_Safety... Dance!_

Swindle finished his tour of the auditorium floor and returned to the stage, waving everyone back to their places and even giving Jinx's hand a parting squeeze before leaping back up. As the song wound to a close, Jinx could only stare at Swindle, wondering why she knew that song when she was certain that she had never heard it before. Meanwhile, Stone was also beginning to notice just how familiar this performance seemed. Could that be...? Nahh, he wouldn't be _enrolled_ in the school. He'd try something sneakier than that.

Onstage, Swindle made eye contact with Bumblebee and nodded once. Phase One seemed to be a success, so Phase Two needed to be put into action.

The thief looked back over his shoulder, "Guys, I have another request."

"'Open Arms', right?" Tim asked.

Checking back with Bumblebee, he saw that Jinx had snapped back into her old personality again and was turning down Bumblebee's request for a cut-in. In fact, the hexer was already clutching back onto Stone's arm once more. The hope that had been built up started to create a deep hole in Swindle's heart.

"No... Dammit, no..."

_**End of Chapter 9**_

_**In Chapter 10** - The plan to re-awaken Jinx's dormant memory continues to unfold, provided Bumblebee can get Stone away from her first. But, how long can Swindle's resolve hold out?_

Author's Post-notes: I now have a forum available if you want to talk about various things. I'd like to hear from you all. :)


	10. Resignation

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes & Disclaimers: What, you expecting something different? It's all the same from the past bunch of chapters! Oh, well, there is one thing... "Take A Look At Me Now/Against All Odds" is likely owned by Phil Collins (and probably, by extension, the band Genesis). Also, "We're Not Gonna Take It" is performed (and likely owned) by Twisted Sister and Dee Snyder. I want my MTV.

_Chapter 10  
Resignation_

Swindle could do nothing more than stand and gape at what he was seeing. Jinx had not only reverted back to her brainwashed self, but she was now clutching onto Stone's arm tighter than ever. After what looked like a rather heated response to Bumblebee's second request to cut in, the Titan spy looked back up to the stage with a regretful look on her face and held up her hands helplessly.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for the rogue as he looked upon his one-time girlfriend, now lost to another. His heart felt like a lump of ice in his chest and every extremity became too heavy to lift an inch. Everything he had worked and fought for; fighting Slade and Terra to free Jinx from their trap, turning against the Titans, enrolling into the Hive Academy and trying to live through day after day of classes... all for nothing. His right hand found Jinx's gold bracelet still hanging from the belt loop and gripped it tightly.

He had to admit it sooner or later. It was over.

"Guys," he spoke at last. "Change of plans."

Bumblebee slipped back to the rear of the auditorium, watching her ally with concern. If the stories she'd heard were true...

The lights went low, prompting a slow dance song was coming up. Tim played a rather somber introduction on the keyboard, while Swindle was bathed in a deep blue spotlight. Without lifting his eyes to the crowd, he began singing.

_How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace?  
When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh...  
You're the only one who really knew me at all..._

Swindle finally looked up and immediately saw Jinx. Memories filled his head as he looked upon the sorceress and continued to sing with a shaky voice.

_How can you just walk away from me, when all I can do is watch you leave?  
'Cause we've shared the laughter and the pain, and even shared the tears...  
You're the only one who really knew me at all..._

_So take a look at me now, 'cause there's just an empty space  
__And there's nothing **left** here to remind me, just the memory of your face...  
__Take a look at me now. Well, there's just an empty space  
__And you coming **back** to me is against all odds and that's what I've got to fa-a-a-ace..._

Mike pounded out the beats to the bridge, which helped the thief's resolve to finish the song. He pulled the microphone off the stand and walked to the left end of the stage, staring out into space just briefly before his gaze returned to Jinx yet again. It looked like she was unsuccessful in getting Stone to dance with her, so she remained content to hug his arm.

_I wish I could just make you turn around... **turn around and see me cry!  
**__There's so much I need to say to you, so many reasons why  
__You're the only one who really knew me at all..._

Through the final chorus, Swindle paced back to the other side of the stage. He sang out as loud as his voice could manage, crouching to one knee when he made it back to center stage to finish the song.

_So take a look at me now, 'cause there's just an empty space  
And there's nothing **left** here to remind me, just the memory of your face  
Take a look at me now, 'cause there's just an empty space  
But to **wait** for you, well that's all I can do and that's what I've got to face  
**Take a good look at me now!** 'Cause **I-I-I'll** still be standing here  
And you coming **back** to me is against all odds  
That's the chance I've got to take - - -_

The rogue had tilted his head back as he held the last note, and let the microphone drop away with his hand while Tim played the next to last refrain. Swindle bowed his head forward, looking down at the floor of the stage as he barely was able to sing the last seven words.

_Just take a look at me now..._

"Oh, Swipe... I'm sorry." Bumblebee sighed sadly to herself as she slumped against the wall. Stone's ear had twitched when he heard someone mention the thief's former name. Suddenly, it all hit the robotic Titan like a sack of horseshoes. No wonder nobody knew where Swipe was, he was _here _as _Swindle!_

All this time, Swipe was trying to get Jinx back and he never knew the guy was there.

And now Jinx was currently attached to his arm.

Trying to fit in with the crowd couldn't have backfired any worse. He _told_ Robin that this wasn't a good idea.

"He sounded so sad there, Stone. He must really miss his last girlfriend..." the hexer remarked softly. Stone noticed her grip on his arm had loosened a little. Maybe there was still a chance to make things right again.

"Y-Yeah... Yeah, he does -_ must!_ Say, uhm, it's getting late. I gotta hit the sack early so I'll be ready for tomorrow's exam."

"I'll walk with you. I should get some sleep, too. I haven't gotten my full eight hours in for the past few weeks."

"Really? How come?"

"I'll tell you on the way. It's a long story."

As they walked through the double doors past Bumblebee, the Titan spy furtively glanced up at Swindle in case he leapt off the stage in hot pursuit. The rogue only stood there with his head down, unaware that Jinx and Stone were leaving together.

Onstage, Tim and Dave checked on their friend, "Hey, Swipe? Are you okay, man?"

Mike stood up from behind his drums, "Are you just gonna let this happen? You're gonna give up on her?"

Jeff knelt by Swindle and added, just loud enough for the thief to hear, "You've got to get up, Swipe. You can't let her get away like this. You love her, I know you do. _Don't let her get away._"

Through his band mates' urgings, Swindle felt the pain in his heart slowly turn into a fiery rage in the pit of his stomach. They were all right, it can't end like this. It _won't_ end like this. The rogue looked back up and into the crowd, but now only saw Bumblebee gesturing that the others had left. The fire grew stronger as his hand balled into a tight, shaking fist. For as badly as he wanted to go after them, he knew upon seeing the crowd stare anxiously up at him that he couldn't get out of the building without closing the set. They'd only try to stop him or slow him up with their compliments.

"One more song," he finally informed the guitarist. "By Twisted Sister. I think you know what I'm talking about."

"I think we do. Anytime you're ready, Mike!" Jeff called back as he signaled to the drummer and got back to his place.

After only one measure of just the drumbeat, Swindle immediately started singing. There was a fierce glint in his eye, and a distinct edge to his singing voice.

_We're not gonna take it! No, we ain't gonna take it!  
We're not gonna take it --- anymore!_

_We've got the right to choose and  
there ain't no way we're losin'!  
This is our life! This is our song!  
We'll fight the powers that be just  
don't pick our destiny 'cuz  
you don't know us! You don't belong!_

_We're not gonna take it! No! We ain't gonna take it!  
We're not gonna take it ---anymore!_

The rogue paced back and forth across the stage like a caged animal, a dark scowl etched on his face. The rest of the band started to wonder if he was using the royal "We" for this particular song.

_Oh, you're so condescending!  
Your gall is never ending!  
We don't want **nothing** - not a **thing** from you!  
Your life is trite and jaded - boring and confiscated!  
If that's your best - your best won't do!_

_Ohh-ohh-oh Whoa-ohh-oh  
We're right! (YEAH!)  
We're free! (YEAH!)  
We'll fight! (YEAH!)  
You'll see! (YEAH!)_

_Whoa-oh, we're not gonna take it! No! We ain't gonna take it!  
We're not gonna take it --- anymore!_

_I said, we're not gonna take it! NO! We ain't gonna take it!  
We're not gonna take it --- anymore!_

_NO WAY!_

As Jeff blasted out the bridge on his guitar, Swindle leapt down into the crowd and headed for the back of the auditorium. On the way, he pushed anyone and everyone who got in his path. Nobody got angry with him, as they figured it was all part of the act.

_Ohh-ohh-oh Whoa-ohh-oh  
We're right! (YEAH!)  
We're free! (YEAH!)  
We'll fight! (YEAH!)  
You'll see! (YEAH!)_

_Woah-oh, we're not gonna take it! No! We ain't gonna take it!  
We're not gonna take it --- anymore!  
We're not gonna take it! No! We ain't gonna take it!  
We're not gonna take it --- anymore!  
**Just you try and make us!**_

The rest of the band picked up the chorus while Swindle screamed the background insults toward the audience. All the while, Jeff and the others saluted their friend in a gesture to wish him well.

_We're not gonna take it! (C'MON!)  
NO! We ain't gonna take it! (YOU'RE ALL WORTHLESS AN' WEAK!)  
We're not gonna take it --- anymore! (NOW DROP AN' GIMME TWENTY!)  
Ohh, we're not gonna take it! NO! We ain't gonna take it!  
We're not gonna take it --- anymore!_

The rogue saluted back to his bandmates before he threw open the double doors behind him and dashed out into the main hall. Back in the auditorium, the cheering and applause was deafening. That didn't matter to him now, though. He ran with all his power to get back to the dormitory wing, just in time to catch "Stone" walking back to his room. Without thinking twice, Swindle threw a single knife into the wall ahead of the false student to stop him.

Stone jumped back a few steps and put up his guard, knowing full well who his attacker was, "Swipe! I didn't know you were here, seriously! I was just ---"

"Didn't you stop to think about how she'll feel, _Cyborg_?" the thief interrupted, causing the target of his fury to become wide-eyed with shock at being discovered. "Yeah, I know it's you! An' I know it's gonna break her heart when she finds out who you really are! Never _mind_ the fact that I've been trying to get her outta here in the first place!"

The undercover Titan waved his hands defensively in front of him, "I know, I know! I'm sorry! It just _happened_, all right?"

Swindle got face-to-face with Cyborg, "No, it's _not_ all right. I'm not _about_ to stand idly by an' watch Jinx get ---"

Stone interrupted him this time, "Wait a minute! How come _you_ haven't gotten her outta here in the first place?"

"Because her memory's been totally wiped out! She doesn't remember anything that happened in the last coupla months! I can't just _drag_ her back to the motel like that!"

The Titan pondered the information, "That would explain her crush on me..." A killer glare from Swindle put Cyborg back on track, "Hey , how many times d'you want me to say that I'm sorry?" There was another moment of silence before he spoke again, "I got an idea. I'll tell her tomorrow that I'm going to be transferred out to another branch of the academy. Their location is a secret, so she won't be able to write or contact me at all. How does that sound? Is that letting her down gently enough?"

Swindle paused to think it over, "Y'know, all things considered... That's actually pretty damn good. It's better than anything _I_ can come up with."

"Thanks. I know she's important to you, Swipe..."

"Swindle."

"Sorry. Swindle. I still remember the show you put on at the club, and what Star told us all afterward. That's why I didn't get why she started getting that crush on me."

"An' that's also why I want to put Brother Blood outta commission," the thief replied, smacking a fist into his palm. "I won't leave this place without Jinx."

"She means that much to you, doesn't she?"

Swindle ruffled up his slicked-back hair and grinned, "If this is any clue... I'd take on the whole school if I had to." A bell sounded, indicating that it was time for lockdown, "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya... Well, I'm glad we had this talk, Cy... er, _Stone_. I feel a little bit better now."

"Whatever help you need, I'll be glad to give it. You have a good night, _Swindle_."

With that, the two students returned to their rooms before the rest of the masses left the auditorium. The rogue entered his room and shut the door behind him, leaning against it shortly afterward. He fished the bracelet from his pocket and held it between his fingers. Hope was alive once more, even if it was on an iron lung for the time being.

Meanwhile, Stone/Cyborg was recieving a transmission from the Titans. He hadn't called them in a while, since he couldn't get a chance away from the eyes of the Hive Academy and there was a major test to study for.

_**End of Chapter 10**_

**_In Chapter 11_** - _More ups and downs, but mostly downs, await the rogue as the headmaster's ultimate project reaches its completion. Cyborg will try to help Swindle get Jinx back, along with Bumblebee, unless... What's that look for? This is a drama, after all!_


	11. Alteration

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (or SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes - Any and all disclaimers mentioned in past chapters and stories are still in effect, as usual.

_Chapter 11  
Alteration_

The next morning, Swindle awoke at the crack of dawn and found himself feeling a bit more refreshed than he had ever been. For once, things were finally going his way. Cyborg was now aware of the rogue's presence within the academy and his relationship with Jinx would soon be gently dissolved. This would allow Swindle more opportunities to work on restoring his friend's memories and, hopefully, convince her to return to the motel and resume her former life.

_"Swindle, please report to the Headmaster's office as soon as possible. Once again, would Swindle please report to the Headmaster's office at once."_

But, of course, Brother Blood just _had_ to call on him now...

Thirty seconds had passed since the announcement was repeated when Swindle stepped through the doorway, "You wanted to see me, Teach?"

Brother Blood turned from gazing out the window to face his pupil, "Yes, I did. Please, have a seat."

"I'll stand, if ya don't mind."

Blood shrugged, "Very well. I called you in here because I have something important that only you can assist with." He turned back to gazing out the window, "We've made some excellent strides in the completion of our project. I have you to thank for the part you played in it."

As Brother Blood continued on, Swindle's eyes roamed the desk in search of pilferable items while his ears tuned out the speech. After making a quick check to see if Blood was watching, the thief made his move.

Brother Blood thought he had heard shuffling behind him. When he looked over his shoulder, he still saw Swindle standing behind the chair that was offered to him. While he was never certain, he could have sworn that the plaque on his desk wasn't there anymore. He continued his speech after a moment's regard.

"The Hive Academy for Extraordinary Young People will soon MEAN something again..."

More shuffling. Blood spun around again to see the exact same scene as before. Swindle was innocently counting the cracks in the ceiling, but it seemed like his desk lamp had now vanished. The rogue didn't appear to have anything stuffed anywhere...

The headmaster cleared his throat and turned his back again, "I will be overseeing this part of the project, of course. What I'll need you to do, Swindle, is..." Shuffle. "Is..." Shuffle-shuffle. Blood whirled around, his eyes already beginning to glow red, and shouted, "_What **are** you doing?_"

Swindle answered calmly while scratching just below his nose, "Dunno whatcher talking about, Teach. I've just been standing here this whole time."

Blood sighed, "Whatever. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that we intercepted a transmission from the Teen Titans last night. They are planning to strike our academy tonight, and I want you to be ready for them. I already have Jinx, Mammoth, Gizmo, and Stone on standby for the impending attack. And when they _do_ come, I'll need you to lure them to the basement-level dueling room."

"An ambush, eh? I suppose they're comin' after our school project?" he asked.

The headmaster nodded once, "They know that we've created a weapon of great power. It's one that has been tailor-made for one of my best students, and they'll certainly want to get it for themselves."

"Well, if it's a gun, I'll pass on it. I'm not much for firearms," Swindle pretended to act aloof, although the mention of a secret weapon always made him wary. After a pause for any additional information, he prodded with, "Is that gonna be all?"

"Yes, you are dismissed. Oh, and Swindle?"

The rogue stopped and turned back around.

"Do keep up the good work. It's because of your efforts that our project is going to be a great success."

Swindle had to work hard to hide his clenched teeth, "Just happy t' be here, Headmaster. Good day to ya."

Brother Blood turned back to his desk after the student left, only to find it completely bare. He briefly considered calling Swindle back to demand his possessions back, but then found himself chuckling at just how good a thief that boy is. Both Swindle and "Stone" showed great promise for the academy, and that would be put to its first real test when the Titans arrive.

Swindle chuckled merrily to himself, with stealing so much stuff helping to further improve his mood. Brother Blood may think he's got the advantage, but the rogue had different plans along with half of the headmaster's desk inventory. In the midst of battle, there was bound to be some chaos and Brother Blood couldn't possibly keep his eyes on everybody. Then he could do what rogues do best: backstabbing. With the headmaster finally out of the way, Jinx's memories would be as good as restored.

As luck would have it, Swindle spotted the hex-caster in the hall on his way to the next class. Jinx was walking by herself with her books clutched to her chest and a distant, dreamy look upon her face. Swindle assumed that she was just still floating from last night's dance and hadn't yet talked to Stone since then. The thief snuck up behind her and tapped her left shoulder, making sure to stay on her right side as he fell into step next to her.

The hexer's annoyed scowl immediately melted when she turned her head the other way and saw her friend, "Hey, Swindle. You put on a good show for the academy last night. Did you know those guys or something?"

Swindle nodded, "Thanks. Yes, I did. Old buddies of mine from my last job. You looked like you were in a good mood just now, by the way..."

Jinx nodded in return, "I just had the most wonderful morning..."

"O-Oh? What... Uh... What happened?"

The sorceress looked at her friend with sparkling eyes, "Stone just asked me to come with him to a movie. I think he's gonna ask me to be his girlfriend tonight."

Swindle stumbled at the news. A stabbing pain in his chest made him wince and prop himself up against the wall with one arm. Jinx doubled back to check on him.

"Swindle? Are you okay?"

"Yeah.. I'm fine, Jinx. Congratulations..." The bell for the next class rang, forcing Swindle to say, "Get going. Don't be late on my account. It's... probably just something I ate at breakfast."

Jinx gave him a concerned look before he waved her on. She hesitantly took a couple of backward steps and then broke into a full run down the hallway, not wanting to be late. Meanwhile, Swindle couldn't ignore the searing pain in his heart, with Jinx's words still ringing in his skull. It seemed that all the things he'd worked for had finally slipped through his fingers. But how? He talked to Cyborg just last night!

_Brother Blood_...

Ice ran down his spine at the realization. Shortly after, his blood began to boil. Every time he thought he had made some kind of progress, _some_ kind of breakthrough, the damn headmaster finds another way to snatch her out of his hands!

He stood there silently seething, until he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see who dared to touch him. The unfortunate soul turned out to be none other than Billy Numerous, with a handy maxim to help comfort his classmate.

"Well, ya know whut they say, Swindle. 'It's better t' have loved an' lawst than never t' have loved t'awl!'"

Billy soon became aware of Swindle rising up in front of him with nothing but white-hot rage in his eyes. He had just enough time to regret his actions...

Around the corner, whoever was still dawdling on their way to class heard a brief but noisy scuffle take place. From around that same corner, Swindle stormed off towards the dormatory again. He muttered a single sentence over his shoulder.

"Blow it out your evenly divisible _ass_, Numerous..."

Back at the scene of the beat-down, Billy's legs were helplessly kicking as they stuck up out of a trash can. A pair of newly-created duplicates were already helping the original out as he cried, "Whut? Whut'd I say?"

Swindle blew past Bumblebee, saying nothing on the way. The girl tried her best to follow her friend back to his room, but even flying didn't help her catch him. The rogue made it to his room in seconds and slammed the door hard behind him. The undercover Titan made it there shortly afterwards and was about to knock on his door when she heard a fierce scream from behind it, followed by a loud series of crashes.

Bumblebee frantically pounded her fist on the door, "Swindle! What's the matter? Open the door and tell me what's wrong!"

In that same instant, there was a sudden silence. Bumblebee became very unsettled by this and hoped that Swindle wasn't going to try something rash. Thinking it a longshot, she tried the doorknob anyway. To her surprise, it opened.

She only opened it an inch or two before cautiously peeking in. There was no retaliation, no screaming, no anything. Her eyes fell upon the rogue, who was sitting curled-up at the head of his bed with his forehead resting on his knees. Everything else in his room, however, was smashed beyond recognition. The few clothes he owned were now scattered as if they exploded from the demolished dresser. Large gashes had been carved into every wall, ending with both daggers sticking out of the wall over Swindle's head.

"Swindle?" she called to him softly. Without an answer, she tried his true name, "Swipe..?"

"Why's this happening to me, Bee?" the rogue finally answered, but never picking his head up to look at her. "What'd I do to deserve this?"

Bumblebee edged through the doorway, keeping wary of any outbursts, "What do you mean?"

"Jinx an' Stone... They're an item now... It's all over now."

"But... I thought you talked to him last night."

"I did, but I guess Brother Blood's a bit more persuasive than I am..."

Bumblebee gasped, "What? No, he didn't... he couldn't have...!"

Swindle looked up to her and nodded. She could see his eyes were already somewhat bloodshot. "He could an' he did. He did it to me again, Bee. Dammit... dammit... DAMMIT!" The thief's hands tightened back into fists before he yanked a dagger from its place in the wall, "I can't keep going like this! I've gotta take Blood out now before Jinx gets hurt or I end up losin' her forever!"

"Whoa! Calm down, will you? You can't just take Brother Blood head-on, he'll rip you apart!"

"I don't _care_ about _me!_ I care about _HER!_"

"Jinx?"

"**YES!**" Swindle shouted, looking straight into his friend's eyes."I love her, Bumblebee! _I'm in love Jinx!_"

Bumblebee's eyes went wide when she saw the desperation in his face. She knew how much Jinx meant to the rogue, but she never knew just how much until now. Her mind worked quickly to build a plan, which fortunately took only a couple of minutes. "All right, I've got an idea. Whatever project Brother Blood has planned for Jump City, we both know the Titans will stop at nothing to shut him down. We just have to know when he's going to unleash it..."

"They already know, Bee. They'll be here tomorrow," Swindle answered her. "The thing is, the Titans believe that I'm hypnotized like everyone else. They'll probably take me down before I can do anything sneaky to the Teach."

Bumblebee held up her communicator, "You're forgetting that I'm also a spy for the Titans. I can let 'em know ahead of time to leave you alone so you can pull off your plan."

The thief smacked his forehead, "How'd I forget that?"

The undercover Titan chuckled, "You've been under a lotta stress, that's how. Don't you worry, I'll take care of this. You get your rest for tomorrow."

"Thanks, Bee. I'm glad I've got someone to count on in here."

With that, the Titan spy made her way to her next class. Swindle went to the cafeteria early to get something to drink and calm himself down. Since he had special orders from the headmaster, he was excused from his classes for the day in order to let him get his weapons and supplies in order. However, he chose to use his time to take a nap and wait for the next day.

That night, however, Bumblebee came to Swindle's room with an urgent look on her face.

"Bee? What is it?" he asked her after answering the door.

"It looks like Brother Blood's not taking any chances. My transmission was scrambled partway through. I think he got Gizmo to put up a jamming field or something."

"Crap.. Did you get to tell the Titans anything?"

Bumblebee shook her head, "Just that Blood's planning to show off his class project to the city. I wasn't able to tell them about you or Cyborg."

Swindle scratched at his chin, "Great, that means they'll still think he's on their side an' I'm not. Guess I'll just hafta wing it again. Thanks for lettin' me know, Bee. This changes the game plan a bit."

"Be careful, Swipe. Brother Blood has me working on his next project and I won't be here for awhile."

"I've worked against worse odds. I'll be fine," he assured her, grinning a scoundrel's grin.

"Good luck, S."

With that, they parted ways for what would end up being the rest of that week. He used the first half of the next day to sharpen up some more throwing knives for the fight, since there was no sense in trying to work on Jinx's memories anymore. He placed those knives in a separate sleeve on his belt and just happened to look to his right. He noticed the gold bracelet laying on the end table and picked it up. After looking it over for a minute, he laid it back down and hastily sharpened a few more knives.

Those went into another separate sleeve, just in case he needed to use them on Cyborg as well.

_**End of Chapter 11**_

_**In Chapter 12 - **To arms! The Titans are coming! And Benedict Swindle is ready to stab the headmaster right in the back. Or front. Or side. It really doesn't matter as long as it gets stabbed. But is Brother Blood the only target in the rogue's sights?_


	12. Illusion

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's notes: As you may have guessed, all previous disclaimers from the past chapters and in the first story continue to apply themselves here. Everything else must go.

_Chapter 12  
__Illusion_

The final hour before dusk seemed to take weeks. Swindle stood at his post, just outside of the academy grounds, waiting to spot the Teen Titans as they approached. He knew had to make his fight with them look convincing enough to Brother Blood yet fake enough to give the hint to the Titans. The only problem was: How?

_'The moment they learn that Cyborg has been subverted, they'll assume the same thing for me. Especially after what happened at the bank... I can't afford to let him do that again. I gotta stay focused this time!'_

He looked out the door and saw Stone and Jinx chatting in the hallway as they headed for the gymnasium, where they would ambush the Titans later. The rogue ground his teeth just a little before snatching up his weapons and left his room to follow them.

"So, how about after this, we go to that restaurant down the street and have a nice victory dinner?" he heard Jinx suggest.

Stone chuckled, "I was just about to ask the same thing. How d'you feel about seafood?"

"Mm, sounds good to me. After that, want to do some stargazing up on the hill by the training field?"

Swindle's fists couldn't ball up any tighter. It took everything he had not to draw his daggers and drive them squarely into Stone's back right then and there. Rather than listen to the lover-talk, the rogue slunk off and made his way to his guard post. At least there, he could vent his frustrations without drawing any attention.

Twenty minutes and forty-seven gashes in the side of a tree later, Swindle saw the Titans climb over a low part of the outer wall. What made him do a double-take was the sight of Cyborg coming over the wall with them. Only when he saw the Titan stand rigidly still even after being hauled by gorilla-form Beast Boy did the rogue realize it was a copy. Still, he had a job to do, and that was to lead the heroes into Blood's trap. Of course, the headmaster never told him just _how_ to do it...

After watching the Titans slip through a ventilation grate, Swindle knew roughly where they were headed and snickered at the thought that they will likely end up in the trap without any help from him. He ducked back into the main building and raced to the basement floors, where many of the other training rooms were. He made sure to stand where they would see him, but lead them to believe that he couldn't see them.

Sure enough, the Titans carefully crept out of one of the empty training rooms, just as Robin gave a quiet signal to wait upon seeing Swindle. The rogue gave them a few seconds to wonder if they had been spotted before nonchalantly striding across the hall into the room where everyone was waiting. He made sure to give a smirking glance back over his shoulder as he crossed through the doorway.

"If _that_ didn't scream 'trap,' I don't know what would," Raven dryly remarked.

"Should we follow him?" Starfire asked Robin.

Their leader frowned in thought, "I don't think we have a choice... Titans, stay alert."

"Easy for you to say," Beast Boy griped while trying to work the remote for the robot double. "I still wish Cy had left an instruction manual..."

**_"BOOYAH! BOOYAH! BOOYAH! BOO -- !" _**the fake Cyborg suddenly started yelling, thanks to having the wrong button pressed at the wrong time. A sudden panic arose to silence the copy's constant shouting, ending with Beast Boy changing into a starfish and attaching himself over its face.

Raven's final comment broke the few seconds of tense silence, "There went the element of surprise, for sure..."

Meanwhile, the ambush party heard the outburst and prepared themselves while the lights were turned off. The lack of light easily hid the sight of Swindle clutching his forehead. The double doors opened and the five Titans cautiously walked into the darkness. Once they were a few feet into the room, the doors were thrown shut and the lights popped on. As the heroes regained their sight, they saw five familiar faces before them. Swindle wasn't sporting the smug smile that the other four did, of whom Stone was a part of.

"So glad you could join us for the unveiling, Titans," Brother Blood's voice boomed throughout the gymnasium. "Students, give them a _warm_ welcome."

Stone's grin widened before he shouted the command, "**_Attack Pattern Alpha!_**"

All five leapt into action, with Stone heading straight for Robin. Jinx and Gizmo turned their attention to Starfire, while Mammoth attacked a controller-fumbling Beast Boy. This left Swindle to deal with Raven, who was not very happy to see him again.

The empath's eyes glowed a furious white, "So, this is how you pay us back? By turning on us and joining the Hive?"

Swindle got into a fighting stance, but left his daggers sheathed, "It's not what you think, Raven. You gotta believe me."

"I've learned my lesson on second chances. _Azarath... Metrion..._"

Raven would not complete the incantation, as Swindle ran at her at full speed and pinned her to the wall by her wrists. Before the rogue could explain himself, Raven thrust her knee into his stomach and kicked him away after he doubled over. Swindle rolled to his feet, and had to roll again to avoid Mammoth's rampaging tackle on Beast Boy's rhinoceros form. This time, Raven was able to use a lesser amount of power to propel her enemy into the air and follow up with a second blast into the far wall.

_'Geez, she hits harder than I thought...'_ he remarked to himself as he rubbed the back of his head. Looking back up, he saw that Raven was taking advantage of the slow recovery to raise larger ammunition. Without a moment to spare, Swindle was back on his feet and charging at the mystic once again.

A successful "_Zinthos!_" later, the rogue had to sharply zig-zag past the flying floor and wall panels before making another attempt at pinning the Titan to the wall. Raven glided out of his path, but not far enough for him to get his arm out and grab her by the shoulder. He ducked an incoming roundhouse kick, a surprisingly _sharp_ one, and managed to get a grip on her forearm. Without giving her another opportunity, Swindle wrenched it behind her back. To Raven's own surprise, it didn't hurt as much she anticipated. In fact, it didn't hurt at all.

"All right, what are you up to?" she growled over her shoulder.

"You said you can feel other people's emotions, Sunshine. What d'you feel right now?" he said as he placed two fingers against her temple.

"Wait...!"

The rush of conflicting energies nearly forced Raven to lose consciousness: Heartache, fear, despair, rage... like a hurricane blowing around in her head. Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to push out this violent intrusion and keep it from loosening her control over her emotions. The empath finally let out a cry of pain as a swirl of her black energy pulsed outward from her body. Swindle finally let her go, allowing her to fall to her knees and catch her breath.

"By Azarath..." she whispered, the words only audible to her own ears over the din of battle. She looked back up to Swindle with a few rare tears in her eyes, "I didn't realize... Why didn't you tell us...?"

"I can't explain right now, Raven. Just get up and fight."

"What?"

"I'm serious, keep fighting me!. I don't want to make Brother Blood suspicious, wherever he is..."

Raven rubbed at her eyes as she rose to her feet, giving a brief nod of understanding just before summoning her powers to throw another floor panel at the rogue. The attack was easily telegraphed, but Swindle made sure he dodged it just in time as he raced for his opponent. A flurry of punches ensued, with each blow narrowly missing the target. Despite the facade, Raven couldn't help but flinch at each strike.

"I think I can safely guess what your favorite T.V. show is..." she remarked during a pause.

Swindle smirked, "A good rogue has to be able to bluff his ass off." He finished his sentence with an easily avoided sweep kick. Raven countered with a lackluster diving punch. Even for her, it was difficult to keep secret the fact that she was actually having fun.

There was a sudden explosion of **_"BOOYAH!"_** which was followed by Beast Boy's triumphant cheer. The robotic duplicate of Cyborg had finally been activated for combat. Both Raven and Swindle dove out of the way of the ersatz Titan as it plowed past them and straight through a wall. The rogue could easily see the weary and annoyed glare that Raven gave to her teammate, which seemed to be often-used.

Without his secret weapon, Beast Boy was quickly overpowered by Mammoth and tossed into the middle of the gym. Gizmo added a battle-worn Starfire to the collection with a barrage of missiles and energy blasts. Jinx blindsided Raven with a bolt of magical force, throwing the cloaked Titan just past Swindle and onto the growing pile. Finally, Stone got a hold of Robin's leg and lifted his former leader over his head before hurling him onto the heap of the defeated. A field of crackling red energy instantly surrounded them.

"It's time we ended this little game," Brother Blood's voice boomed throughout the room. Swindle's eyes darted every which way to determine its source. He'd find it when the headmaster lowered himself to the training room floor via a levitating platform. Sensing an opportunity approaching, Swindle drew his daggers and waited for everyone's attention to be focused elsewhere.

"What are you going to do, Blood?" Robin asked, keeping his voice cold and steady. "What is it you want?"

"What any arch-villain wants, dear boy. Total control of the world. And _this..._" Brother Blood produced a cylindrical device from his cloak, "...will help me achieve this dream!"

"A blender?" Beast Boy ventured his guess.

"A sonic amplification unit, capable of generating a blast that can decimate entire city blocks! I had this custom-made for one of my top students in this academy..."

As if on cue, the duplicate Cyborg crashed through the wall opposite of the one it had used to leave the room and was on a collision course with Stone. With nothing more than another **_"BOOYAH!"_** as its warning, it belted Stone across the face and sent him flying into a wall. The traitorous Titan had barely gotten back on his feet when **_"BOOYAH!"_**, another punch threw him to the floor!

Swindle couldn't help but cringe at each utterance, _'If I gotta hear that thing yell 'Booyah' one more time, I'm gonna go stab that damn thing...'_

Stone wasn't any more impressed with his double's communication skills, and expressed it with a fierce punch of his own. The false Cyborg was blasted off of its feet and thrown hard on its back. It laid still for a moment as the real one stood over it with a triumphant sneer on his lips.

"Booyah _that_."

No more than five seconds had passed when the robot was up again and swinging for its enemy. Stone was staggered by the blow, but this time remained on his feet to return the favor. They traded punch after punch after vicious punch, until Stone slowly gained momentum with his attacks. He finally toppled his duplicate with a clothesline tackle and followed it up with another wild volley of lefts and rights. Sparks and various technical bits flew from the fake Cyborg's face, until only a mangled metallic skull remained. The beating had also destroyed the true Cyborg's ring-mounted hologram projector, revealing him for who he really was.

A collective gasp rose from Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo, with the little tinkerer shouting, "I don't stinkin' believe it! He was a Titan this whole time! We actually _trusted_ him!"

Jinx could only stare at her new boyfriend, now unsure of their newly-started relationship. As he watched this all unfold, Swindle chewed at his lower lip out of anxiety and glanced at the captive Titans. They won't know who to believe after this whole thing was over...

"Don't look so surprised, Titans," Brother Blood said with a droll tone. "Who else would be my top student, except one of your own? And now that he's mine, there is no one in the city that can stop me now."

The headmaster wore a confident smile as he handed the aforementioned device to his star pupil. Without hesitation, Cyborg accepted the enhancer and attached it to his sonic cannon arm. With a grin, he aimed his weapon at his former allies while Blood dispelled his force field.

"Cyborg, snap out of it! This isn't like you!" Robin said, trying to reach his former teammate.

"Please, you cannot do this! We are your friends! We always _have_ been!" Starfire pleaded. Her words were soon augmented by those of her friends.

Cyborg only smirked, "I guess I've got new friends now..."

The soft aqua-white glow of his cannon intensified as it prepared to fire. With all eyes on the Titans and Cyborg, Swindle decided it was now or never and ran at full-speed for Brother Blood's back. The next word he heard came from Cyborg's own mouth, and it was one he never expected to hear.

_"PSYCH!"_

Just as Swindle was about to make his sneak attack, Cyborg had turned his enhanced blaster upon its creator. Although he had been caught off-guard, Brother Blood was still able to quickly throw up a psionic shield to deflect the massive wave of energy into the ceiling. The same shield also deflected Swindle's flying body onto the floor in a much more painful manner. The sonic blast ripped through several floors, including the generator room. Alarms began blaring as the arena was bathed in a bright red light. A computerized voice informed every last student and teacher that the generators would explode within two minutes, hinting that the complex would go up with it shortly thereafter.

"This isn't over, Titans! Especially for you, _Cyborg_..." Brother Blood shouted, retreating to the lift platform. He then looked back and called to his students, "Mammoth, Swindle, Jinx, Gizmo! Quickly, we must evacuate!"

As the three boys scrambled aboard the vehicle, Jinx slowly advanced toward her former love. The words she spoke were only loud enough for the two of them to hear.

"You could've been one of us..."

Cyborg sighed, "I could've been a lot of things. But some things aren't meant to be."

"I thought you cared about me."

"I did... That's why I've gotta let you go now, because I know it'll never work out between us. Besides, there's someone out there who cares about you even more. Go on, Jinx. He's waiting for you..."

Jinx's eyes shimmered with tears that she fought to contain, and her hands at her sides tightened into trembling fists. Before Cyborg could say anything else, the sorceress ran from him and jumped onto the platform with the others. The robotic Titan watched her leave without a word, and soon caught Swindle's gaze. That expressionless stare spoke volumes to him, as if he could actually hear what was going through the rogue's mind.

_'I'll get you for this, Cyborg. After Brother Blood, I'm comin' after you.'_

_**End of Chapter 12**_

_**In Chapter 13** - Both sides are hurting from their battle, both physically and emotionally. In the interim, Swindle must now find a way to mend Jinx's broken heart as well as his own. Two strangers may indeed learn to fall in love again._


	13. Evacuation

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: Any and all disclaimers from previous chapters still apply here. Check my notes at the end of the chapter for more disclaimers, as I don't want to spoil things. The format is a bit different, but certain features are still about the same. Don't count me out just yet, I'm not out of this thing!

_Chapter 13  
__Evacuation_

Walls were cracking and shuddering from the explosions that were rocking the academy's foundations. Just as the fleeing students reached the landing where Gizmo's latest multipurpose vehicle awaited, Swindle decided to turn back to retrieve his belongings. He answered his comrades' protests with the calm assurance that he could out-speed the collapse of the academy and broke into a full run back towards the dormitory wing.

He was thankful that he had brought very little to the school in the first place. It barely took thirty seconds to get everything gathered together, which gave the rogue the idea to save some of Jinx's possessions with the extra time. Swindle abandoned subtlety this time, kicking down the door to Jinx's room and scouring the dresser and closet for anything that might be valuable to her. With little time left, he grabbed some extra sets of clothes and what looked like her diary. He soon learned that it wasn't her diary he picked up, but a small sketchbook.

"You draw? I didn't know you drew..."

He opened the book to a random page in the middle and found a large drawing of a unicorn staring back at him. The sketch made him laugh out loud, since he never believed that she liked unicorns even when she was in her more reformed phase. After flipping a few more pages, he found another large drawing that gave him pause. It was a large broken-heart icon, which looked exactly like the charm that he gave her so long ago. Curious, he flipped one more page to find a fantastic scene: Two figures together in the middle of a huge dance floor, encircled by a crowd of people. Blues and purples blended together all throughout the drawing, just as they did on the night they danced at The Retro Zone. Five words captioned the artwork, "The Night We Never Met". Time had stopped for the thief as he reflected on the artwork, placing two fingers over the dancers and knowing what it meant. The dreams that Jinx told him about were becoming clearer. She was finally starting to remember.

A loud bang shook the academy, taking Swindle out of his thoughts. The rogue hurriedly stuffed the book into his duffel bag, along with a few extra changes of Jinx's clothes, and raced back to the escape vehicle. Gizmo had already fired up the engines, apparently having no faith in his classmate's abilities. SeeMore and Mammoth hauled Swindle into the passenger bay and slammed the door shut, signaling an all-clear to get out of the area. It was only a minute later that the complex went up in a great ball of fire.

Wondering where their next destination was, Swindle made his way to the cockpit where Gizmo was calmly auto-piloting his craft towards the ocean.

"Uhh, Giz? I can't help but notice that we're driving straight towards the water."

"I know. We're on our way to the new academy. Ya might wanna get into a seat. This part gets pretty bumpy."

The thief did as instructed, just before the vehicle shuddered and jerked as it fought against the waves. The turbulence didn't last long, and the remainder of the ride would be as smooth as glass but as silent as a tomb. Everyone was still reeling from the shock of having a spy in their midst for so long and never even realizing it. Jinx seemed to be affected the worst, as she sat by herself at the rear of the vehicle and did nothing more than gaze out the window at the blue-green horizon of the ocean. She looked exactly as she did when he saved her from killing herself; depressed and distant.

SeeMore's voice broke Swindle's train of thought, "Man, I've never seen her like this before."

"I have, not too long ago," Mammoth replied behind both of them.

"Really?" the rogue asked as he looked back over his shoulder. "When was that?"

"When she first came back to the academy, before Brother Blood counseled her. All she kept talkin' about was some dude named Swipe..."

The answer made Swindle's blood turn to ice. After a swallow of air, he continued to probe for information.

"So, uh, what... what happened?"

"After she was counseled, she never mentioned him again." The brute shrugged and leaned back in his seat, "I don't get it, either. The way she talked, he sounded like someone important to her."

Jinx didn't appear to be paying any attention to the conversation, much to the relief of the others. Everyone knew of Jinx's hair-trigger temper, but Swindle had not yet been privy to the more violent side of it.

"Maybe someone should talk to her an' see if she's okay?" he finally tried suggesting. This brought a fervent stream of rejections from his classmates, ending with SeeMore vocally questioning the rogue's sanity.

"You ain't seen Jinx when she's mad," Mammoth added. "You don't _wanna_ see 'er mad."

Swindle couldn't believe what he was hearing! What kind of friends _are_ these people?

"B'sides, she'll get over it. Just like she did with that Swipe fella."

The thief felt his jaw set at those words. He knew better, and the drawing he saw proved it. Rather than starting an argument, he instead decided to make his way to the front of the submarine to see the newly-built academy. It looked quite impressive with its central tower stretching at least two miles up from the sea floor, dwarfing even the larger whales that swam near to it. Parts of it were still unfinished, particularly the large sphere near the tower's top. Why the hell Brother Blood wanted this thing built at the bottom of an ocean was anyone's guess.

"Not bad, huh? Bumblebee and I worked pretty hard to get everything put together," Gizmo bragged from the pilot's seat.

"Just the two of you worked on this? Even if _I_ were helpin' you, it wouldn't be this far done yet!"

"Hel-_looo!_ Technological genius here! I made more than enough work-bots to help with the construction. The headmaster said he wanted it done quickly, and quickly is what he's getting."

"Uh-huh. So, what's that bowl-thing gonna be? Satellite reception?"

The squinty-eyed techie only grinned, "That's our next school project; a tidal wave generator. The coolest thing about it is that the machine's been made from all of Rustybutt's schematics! We're gonna use _his_ sonic cannon to wipe out the whole city!"

As Gizmo started cackling in anticipated triumph, Swindle was already thinking of ways to sabotage it.

The submarine sighed once as it docked in the new base, with the breaching of the water's surface sending a brief tremor through the vessel. Once everything went still again, Gizmo gave the all-clear to disembark. Swindle had to bite his lip to avoid breaking out the "take all small children by the hand" joke. He waited for the others to get off first and watched as Jinx silently shuffled off the ramp and through the mechanical doors leading into the base proper, her chin meeting with her chest and her eyes half-lidded.

"Hey guys!" Gizmo shouted from across the docking bay. "I just got off the comm with Brother Blood. He's lettin' us take the rest of the week off as long as we scope out some more places to get materials!"

"Sweet! Let's go break into the stadium an' watch the big football game!" Mammoth shouted back.

Swindle cleared his throat, "If it's all the same to you guys, I think I'm just gonna take a nice long nap."

"Bah, you're no fun," the brute grunted before turning to the hex-caster. "You wanna come with, Jinx?"

Jinx made no indication that she had even heard her friend's question. She simply opened the door to her new room and went in, shutting it quietly behind her. The other guys shrugged before turning to leave again and go have some fun at someone's expense. Swindle waited for them to be out of sight, even straining to listen for when the noise of the submarine's engine faded out. This was it. Now or never.

The thief knocked twice on Jinx's door and waited a moment without a response. He was about to knock again when something caught his ear. He pressed his ear to the door and focused. After a few seconds, he could hear someone quietly sobbing. He took the liberty of cracking open Jinx's bedroom door and peeked in cautiously.

The room was totally bare except for a bed and a dresser. Jinx laid on the bed, face-down in a pillow. She never looked up to see who was there with her, as she seemed to be lost in her despair.

"Uh.. Jinx?"

More sobbing, but no real reply. Swindle edged past the door and into the room, keeping a wily eye on the sorceress just in case. Jinx still did nothing but cry for a long moment, until she finally acknowledged the rogue's presence.

"I really thought he was the one..."

"You mean Stone, don't you?"

Jinx lifted herself up from her spot on the pillow and looked over at him. The makeup she wore around her eyes had streaked down her cheeks and smudged the whole area above her nose.

"Yes. I thought he was the one from my dreams. I just- I just had that _feeling_..."

Swindle said nothing despite his inner urges to tell her who she was seeing those visions, since he still wasn't sure if she remembered enough to believe the truth.

"I guess that's just one of those things, huh? I cause bad luck, so I..." Her face contorted as she started to cry again, "So I get it back double."

The rogue took a seat beside her at the edge of the bed while she curled up and covered her face with her hands. Without a word, he reached over to pat her shoulder and comfort her in some way. An idea popped into his head and he soon started rummaging through his duffel bag for the belongings he managed to save. The first thing he found was her sketchbook, which he laid against her left hand. Jinx opened one eye part-way to see what was placed in front of her.

"My... My sketchbook," she murmured through her sniffling. "You got my sketchbook for me."

"Yeah, and a few changes of clothes. It was all I had time for."

"Thanks..."

The hexer began flipping the pages of her book, searching for her favorites, and soon came across one of her unicorn sketches. Swindle peered over the top of the book and grinned at what he saw.

"You never struck me as a unicorn fan, Jinx."

Jinx pulled the book away from him out of reflex. That side of her was always carefully defended.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hold it against you, and I ain't gonna tell anyone else," he said as he moved back beside her. "Besides, you're a pretty good artist. Why didn't you ever tell me you drew?"

"It's... It's not a very redeeming quality around here. Everyone's more interested in my magic... when they're not scared of it, that is."

Swindle looked up at her, silently asking her to continue. Jinx turned halfway away from his gaze out of embarrassment, but continued her explanation.

"I guess that's why I liked Stone so much. He didn't know me as well as everybody else here does. Or, at least, I thought he didn't... Not until I found out he was really _Cyborg_..."

"But how can anyone _not_ like you, Jinx? You've got qualities that nobody knows about!"

"Because they'll laugh at me!" The hexer sniffled, "Like they don't make fun of me behind my back as it is! I know the other students are looking at me. I can even hear 'em saying, 'Oh, there goes Jinx, the little witch-girl. Nobody wants to be her boyfriend 'cause she'll turn them into a toad if they make her mad.' Well, I don't _want_ to go through life being some creepy girl that nobody wants to get close to! Sometimes, Swindle... _Sometimes_, I wish I could've been a normal girl..."

The thief put his hand on her shoulder and told her, "Don't say that, Jinxie. You're fine just the way you are, an' don't let anyone else tell you different. Your powers aren't 'creepy', they're just... well, different. We've all got our own gifts here. You shouldn't be ashamed of your powers, Jinx. You should be proud of 'em!"

As she listened to his encouragement, something began to tickle in the back of Jinx's mind once more. It was that same clawing sensation she felt back on prom night, as if something were trying to tear its way out of her head. She visibly winced at it, prompting some concern from her friend.

"You okay?"

"Y-Yeah... must just be fatigue or something. Maybe I should get some sleep."

"As you wish," Swindle got to his feet and took a few steps towards the door. He said to her over his shoulder, "If you ever wanna talk about anything, even if it's just to get it off your chest, you can always talk to me."

Jinx nodded once and attempted a weak smile, "Thanks, Swindle. Good night."

"Good night, Jinxie. Sleep well."

There was that name again. The buzzing in her head became louder. Where had she heard it before?

In the meantime, Swindle purposefully left the door cracked open before he left for his own room. He remembered seeing that same look on Jinx's face when he sang Safety Dance at the prom. That academy's fall must have caused Brother Blood to lose focus on his domination. With her other friends having a night on the town, this might be the best time to work on her memories.

Three hours passed.

Jinx tossed and turned in her bed, struggling to find a way to get to sleep. The moment she would try to close her eyes, the visions would hit her again. A large crowd of people surrounded her field of vision, bathed in deep blue light. In her dream, Jinx continuously turned around and around, scanning them for the one she was still looking for. At last, standing in front of her, was the silhouette of a young man. His hair was quite messed up, and she could make out the ragged features of his clothing.

"Who are you? Why won't you tell me!" she shouted at the apparition.

There was no response. Jinx felt as if she were simply staring at one of her drawings.

"TELL ME! WHO ARE YOU!"

The images melted away into blackness. Frustrated, the sorceress fell to her knees and cried into her hands. She had been haunted by these dreams ever since she came back to the academy. If only she could figure out what they were trying to tell her.

"What you're seeing is something from your past, Jinx." a quiet voice spoke to her. Jinx immediately recognized it as her own.

She looked up toward the speaker and saw a completely different version of herself. The girl wore a purple t-shirt with a broken-heart symbol on its chest, jean shorts that reached her knees, and a much shorter hairstyle where the "horns" curled in on themselves to form a vague heart shape. What caught her eye the most were her double's hands; bruised and nearly bloody, as if she had been beating on a steel door for days on end.

The other Jinx smiled, which only showed the fatigue even more, and said, "I was hoping I'd see you again."

"You're... me?"

"Of course I am, silly. I'm you from a different time. Before _he_ took you away."

Jinx blinked, "You don't mean Brother Blood, do you?"

Her twin nodded once.

"But, how could that be? I've been in the academy for as long as I can remember!"

"And just how far back _can_ you remember?"

Those words stopped Jinx cold. She suddenly realized that the farthest back she could recall was just before the semester started. Everything before that was nothing but a blur.

Just then, music began to filter into her mind. A familiar song...

_Lying beside you, here in the dark, feeling your heart beat... with mine..._

Jinx's double closed her eyes and smiled, "That's our song. I knew he'd be here for you."

"Who?"

"The one in your dreams. I can't tell you his name, though. That memory is still blocked from me."

Jinx was taken by her hands and lifted back to her feet by her other self.

"You have to go to him. He's been here all this time, waiting for you to remember him. It's up to you to do it. I know you can..."

At that moment, Jinx jolted awake and sat bolt upright with a cold sweat on her brow. She threw glances around her room as she fought to catch her breath again. In the darkness, all she could hear was the singing from her dream. She pulled herself out of bed to follow the sound, not even bothering with her slippers.

She didn't need to walk far. The singing was coming from Swindle's room.

_Softly you whisper, you're so sincere... How could our love be so blind?  
__We sailed on together, and drifted apart.. And here you are by my side..._

Warmth spread through Jinx's body, causing her to suddenly feel flushed. Her eyes teared up again, but she still couldn't understand why.

_So now I come to you... with o-pen arms! Nothing to hide, believe what I say.  
__So here I am... with o-pen arms! Hoping you'll see what your love means to me...  
__Open arms._

During the chorus, Jinx started to feel lightheaded. Something in her mind was wrenching itself free of the blackness that had overtaken it. She stumbled forward through Swindle's door and dropped to her knees just inside his room. The rogue heard her fall and instantly jumped from his bed to help her up again.

"Jinx! What're you doing up? Are you okay?"

She barely opened her eyes to look up at him, placed her left hand to his cheek, and whispered four words to him before passing out.

"Are you... the one?"

_**End of Chapter 13**_

_**In Chapter 14 **- Jinx seems to be shaking off her domination, but how long will it be before Brother Blood decides to strengthen his hold again? Can the Titans find the new academy's location before Swindle loses all the progress that he's made?_

Author's Post-Notes: "Open Arms" is still property of Journey, just re-clarifying that to be safe. I hope I haven't worried anyone with my long absence. I promise to get these chapters rolling more smoothly again!


	14. Confrontation

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: All previous disclaimers apply. Anything further will be covered at the end of the chapter. That AU element is going to become more pronounced, starting now.

_Chapter 14  
Confrontation_

A week passed since Jinx's slight awakening. Swindle found himself busy with stealing more materials for the final phase of the construction. Bumblebee barely had enough of a chance to talk to the rogue, even in passing. The only communications came via folded notes slipped under the cracks of their doors during the day. Through them, Swindle learned the weak points within the main reactor and when the next visit from the Titans will be happening.

Jinx hadn't been seen outside of her room in the entire week. Swindle was the only one brave enough to check up on her, and always found her curled up in bed. Maybe that was for the better, anyway. The less action she sees, the more time she'll have to think. Also, if she remains there when the Titans come back to destroy this new base, then she won't break down upon seeing Cyborg. This knowledge kept the rogue's mind at relative ease as he kept up his work.

The night before the base's scheduled completion, Swindle noticed a folded-up slip of paper under the crack of his door. It read: "I just heard back from Aqualad. They'll be coming tonight. Be ready. -B-"

It wasn't much longer after that, that a page to be went out across the complex for the top students to gather at the command module at the top of the tower. Swindle and Bumblebee were the first to arrive, followed by Mammoth and Gizmo. Brother Blood stood at the large window overlooking the vast expanse of the ocean, his back was turned to them as he watched the sea life float past.

"I'm sure you know why I brought you here."

"You want to congratulate us on finishing the project?" Swindle ventured a guess.

"Not exactly. Scanners have picked up a submersible heading straight for this facility. I'm certain that it's the Teen Titans, coming to shut us down again. As soon as I detect their arrival, I shall stage a welcoming party to attempt to drive them apart. Optimally, I'd like Cyborg to be by himself. And Bumblebee?"

"Yes?"

"You'll be the one to officially 'greet' him."

"Headmaster Blood, with all due respect, I'd like to be the one to welcome him."

Brother Blood glanced over his shoulder, "Why is that, Swindle?"

"Well... let's just say I have some unsettled business to take care of with him. Kinda personal, y'know."

"As you wish. Be ready in Training Room 8-D, and expect Cyborg to drop in."

Swindle gave him a confident smirk and said, "I'll be there with bells on."

"I'm glad to hear that.. Now then, I expect the Titans to split up and search for a means to shut off the main generator. In that case; Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo will engage them and pull them in a different direction." The headmaster turned to face his troops and noticed someone was missing. After a glance toward the door, he asked Mammoth and Gizmo, "Where _is_ Jinx?"

Gizmo spoke first, "We haven't seen her come outta her room since we got here."

Mammoth added his input, "She hasn't been feelin' too well lately, sir. I don't think she's gotten over the whole Stone/Cyborg thing yet."

"That's unfortunate. However, I cannot let personal feelings get in the way of my goal. If she won't fight, the rest of us will continue without her. Understood?"

The other students spoke in unison, "Yes, Headmaster..."

"Good. Now, go and take your positions. Dismissed."

As everyone filed out of the office, Bumblebee caught up with Swindle.

"All right, what're you up to?"

"Up to? Me? Nothing! I just want to make the fight as believable as possible, that's all."

Bumblebee fixed a very skeptical glare upon the rogue, forcing him to stop for a moment. Swindle noticed that Brother Blood was still at the door to the office, watching them.

"Look, Bee, Cyborg knew _exactly_ what he was doing back then. He shrugged off Brother Blood's domination like an old blanket!"

"So did you. What makes Sparky any different?"

Swindle raised his voice, "He played with Jinx's _heart_, that's what! You can't expect me to believe that he just _forgot_ that me an' Jinx were together! He was at my farewell concert at the Retro Zone! He heard me dedicate my last song to Jinx! HE _KNEW!_"

"Swindle, please, calm down..."

"I **_ain't_** calmin' down! If Brother Blood wants a Cyborg smackdown, he's damn sure gonna get one! Just wait for me, all right?"

Before Bumblebee could try to talk her friend out of his adrenaline rush, he raced down the hallway, turned several corners, and disappeared from sight in only a few seconds. A sinking feeling filled her stomach. She remembered when Swindle had told her about Brother Blood being able to take over his mind when he had to defend himself against the Titans. If he ended up losing his focus while fighting Cyborg, he might not be able to break free again.

_'Wait a minute. Did he wink at me just then?'_

Swindle waited for what seemed like forever. He had literally carved a trench into the outer perimeter of the training room from pacing, and was about to seek Cyborg out personally when the robotic Titan fell from a chute in the ceiling. A large screen illuminated the image of Brother Blood's smirking face.

"Welcome back, Cyborg. I thought it would be appropriate to prepare a greeting party for you."

Cyborg turned in the direction Brother Blood indicated, and his circuits paled when he saw Swindle leaning against a nearby pillar.

The headmaster continued, "Swindle, show Cyborg how happy you are to see him again."

Swindle drew his daggers and leaned into his fighting stance, "Just watch me, if you can."

Cyborg took a defensive stance, "We don't have to do this, you know."

"Oh, I think we do."

"It's about her, isn't it? Look, I'm ---"

"I'll carve an apology out of your chassis, thank you!"

The rogue let out a warcry and charged his opponent, his eyes and daggers both glinting with violence. Cyborg barely dodged the initial slice, but took the follow-up on his left shoulder. The cut wasn't deep, but he knew there would be many more if he wasn't careful. A third slash and then a fourth forced Cyborg into a full retreat behind a pillar. Swindle was a half-step behind, swinging both weapons for the Titan's head but instead sinking them into the concrete behind it.

Cyborg took the opportunity to put some distance between himself and the rogue, priming his sonic cannon to aid in defending himself if needed. Swindle yanked his blades from the pillar and spun towards his enemy once more, a grim snarl still twisting his face. He was back in Cyborg's face in only a few seconds, and nowhere near the explosion created by a badly-timed blast of sonic energy.

The Titan was able to deflect and dodge Swindle's flurry of slashes, making sure to hit only the flat of the blade to avoid further injury, but it would only last for so long. Out of desperation, Cyborg tried a hard right hook to stop the assault. The rogue ducked out of the way and pivoted into a sweep kick of his own, planting his opponent on his back. Cyborg was barely able to roll away from the incoming heel kick that followed. As he scrambled to his feet, the half-robot made another attempt to parley.

"Come on, man! There's gotta be another way!"

Swindle threw a couple of knives at or near Cyborg's head, all the while screaming his reply.

"There _ain't_ no other way! Not after what you did!"

Swindle leapt at Cyborg in a flying roundhouse kick, but misjudged his jump and found himself on the business end of a fierce haymaker. As he sailed through the air, Swindle flipped backward and threw four knives back at his enemy. Three of the projectiles stuck into the concrete while the fourth embedded itself into Cyborg's leg. The rogue landed hard on his feet, forcing him into a crouch to prepare for his next strike.

It was then that he heard Brother Blood's impatient shouts, but not from the monitor...

_"Get up, Swindle! Cut him into pieces! **Destroy him, NOW!**"_

In that instant, Swindle's eyes flared with the headmaster's bright red energy. He could feel his body being numbed and his mind becoming enveloped in a familiar haze. The thief realized he was again trapped behind his own eyes, watching himself take more precise swings with his blades and catching his opponent's vulnerable points even more often than before. It was happening all over again, just like when he fought Starfire.

Cybrog's sonic blasts continued to go wide against his dominated foe, and his desperate pleas could no longer be heeded. A vicious side kick knocked the Titan off-balance, leaving him open just long enough for an uppercut to hit its mark. As he picked himself up, Cyborg fixed a determined stare on Swindle. While the rogue's face remained expressionless, his mind was fighting with all its strength to break its bonds.

"Time to knock some sense back into you..."

The robotic Titan fired a volley of energy bursts, making sure to lead his target and try to drive him into a corner with the shots. He wouldn't need to, for the red glow in Swindle's eyes suddenly flickered and caused the rogue to stumble in mid-dodge as he fought against the mind control. The last shot caught Swindle directly in the chest and sent him to the ground, face first. There was a pregnant pause while the rogue laid there and Cyborg primed another blast. After half a minute, Swindle finally muttered a few barely comprehensible words.

"G-Get... Get out..."

"What?"

With every muscle in his body twitching in the effort, Swindle struggled to his feet and clutched at the sides of his head.

"Out... of... my head... rrrgh.."

Cyborg took a half-step forward, "Are you okay?"

_**"GET OUTTA MY HEAD! I'LL DO THIS MYSELF!"**_

Swindle bellowed wildly and threw one of his daggers at the monitor, severing the connection to Brother Blood's office and disrupting the headmaster's control. With the visegrip released from his brain, the thief slumped back to the ground and sighed with the relief of feeling his arms and legs once more. Convinced that Swindle must have been under Blood's control the whole time, Cyborg ran over to his fallen friend to help him.

A swift kangaroo kick sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Swipe! It's me, Cyborg!"

"I'm well aware of that," Swindle replied as he sheathed his other dagger. "An' I think that's about as much ass-kicking as you deserve. C'mon, get up. We're gonna to blow this joint."

The rogue held his hand out for Cyborg, causing the Titan to raise a skeptical eyebrow.

"I know ya don't trust me, but you're gonna have to. I got someone who can help tear this place down. Hopefully, she got my message. Where're the others?"

"They went to look for the reactor room. Robin insisted. I wanted to take the fight to Brother Blood because of what he did to me, but you know how our leader can get."

Cyborg accepted the helping hand, but still with a great deal of caution.

"I was thinkin' the same thing, Cy. Teach is next on my list of people whose posteriors I need to rearrange with my boot."

"Swipe, about that... I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to hurt Jinx like that. The truth came out faster than I wanted it to, and there just wasn't enough time to explain. I don't blame you for wanting to kick my ass after what I did. I would, too, if I were in your place."

The rogue had walked over to the shattered monitor screen and retrieved his dagger while he listened.

"This is more Brother Blood's fault than it is yours, Cyborg. He's taken from both of us now; your blueprints and my girlfriend. It's time to put an end to it."

As he talked, Swindle opened the doors to leave the training room.

And was startled to find Jinx standing there, with Bumblebee right behind her.

"She insisted on coming, Swindle."

_**End of Chapter 14**_

_**In Chapter 15** - Swindle must now make the ultimate back-stab against the headmaster and bring the new compound down around him. Will his theory hold up? And will Jinx finally snap out of this mind-lock?_


	15. Destruction

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's notes: All disclaimers from past chapters still apply here. Check the end for new ones. You know, to preserve any spoilers. The AU tag may as well become a permanent thing now, I'm changing stuff around so much.

_Chapter 15  
Destruction_

Swindle and Bumblebee stayed several paces behind Jinx and Cyborg to allow them some time to talk. The hexer's gaze shifted from her former crush to the floor and back again as she walked. Cyborg dared not to speak a word for fear that an adamantine dagger might get stuck in his back if he said the wrong thing. Jinx decided to finally break the long silence.

"Why did you do that?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you lead me along when you knew there was no way we could be together?"

"Jinx, listen, I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean for it to happen."

Jinx snorted, "Yeah, right. Like you didn't mean for the academy to get blown up, right? I never would've thought that you Titans had such mean streaks."

Cyborg sighed. He couldn't believe what he did, either. The relationship was really doomed from the start. He was a Teen Titan, and she was one of their enemies. There would always have been an element of uncertainty, of distrust. His heart overrode his memory banks, and now he was sorry that Jinx was the one to suffer for it. He wanted her to be happy again, and there was really only one way to do that now.

"So, there's nothing I can do to make up for it?"

"What d'you mean? How can you make up for tearing my heart out and stomping on it with those big, metal clodhoppers of yours?"

Cyborg's face suddenly broke out into a wide grin, making her and the rogue behind her a little suspicious.

"What if I told you that I could make all this go away; me, the academy, Brother Blood. Everything."

Jinx gave him a quizzical look, "Why would I want to get away from the academy?"

"Because it's not where you belong. Your home's at the Shady Lake Motel."

The hexer's blood froze. That name sounded disturbingly familiar.

"You remember what I said last time?"

She slowly nodded.

"He's been here the whole time."

Jinx looked up and followed Cyborg's nod to where Swindle and Bumblebee were walking. Another brief spike of pain hit her mind as more memories fought for freedom. She turned away again and groaned, clutching at her forehead all the while.

"You okay?"

"Ugh... Just a headache..."

Swindle must have noticed this, because he was now just a step and a half behind them again.

"What's up?"

"N-Nothing, Swindle... Another headache... I'll be okay."

"Guys, we're getting close to the oversight center," Bumblebee informed them as she caught up. "Are you sure you want to do this, Jinx?"

The sorceress nodded, still trying to massage the pain from her forehead. In her mind's eye, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a simple room with only a couch, a beanbag chair, and a television set in it. _He _was sitting there, but she could still only see him in silhouette. Swindle's voice would quickly snap her out of the vision.

"What made you decide to do this, anyway? You never told me on the way up."

"Because... the night I heard you singing, I had another dream. This time, I saw myself in it."

"Really?"

"I know it sounds weird, but it's true. She told me that someone took my memories away from me, took someone important from me as well. I think the one who did this is... is Brother Blood."

Everyone seemed to skip a step at the mention of the headmaster. Jinx continued to speak.

"If the dreams are right, then I want to know why he did this to me. I want to know why he had to erase something from my mind to keep me at the academy. I'm not about to let anyone get away with something like this, not even if it's the headmaster."

Jinx's voice steadily gained strength and conviction as she spoke. Swindle could swear he was hearing his Jinxie coming back out. Cyborg also noticed it and gave the thief a hopeful grin, which was soon returned.

The four of them arrived at the oversight center shortly afterwards, and Bumblebee opened the door with her keycard. All this time, there was no further sign of Brother Blood. The rogue hoped that the headmaster's attention was being drawn elsewhere.

"Here we are, Sparky. Once this gets taken out, all the security systems will go offline long enough for the others to be able to hit the main reactor. Then..."

"It's all downhill from there," Swindle finished. "We've gotta get people evacuated, though. I'm thinkin' that once the Teach's influence is broken, a lot of these guys'll go their own way an' not bother anyone anymore."

"Let's hope so. Thanks for the help, y'all."

"No problem, Cy. See you on the outside, eh?"

"Not if I see you first!"

Swindle turned to the first friend he made in the academy and said, "Be careful in there, Bee. Teach ain't around now, but that don't mean he won't make a guest appearance."

"You got it, S." She grinned as she leaned in closer to whisper, "Lemme know how things work out between the two of you."

The thief rolled his eyes, "Will you get going already?"

With that, both Bumblebee and Cyborg stepped into the station and closed the door behind him. The remaining three made haste for the dormitory hall to get as many of their classmates into the escape pods as possible. Midway through this, however, Jinx felt something sieze her heart. She dropped to her knees as she clutched at her chest just as Swindle rounded the corner towards her.

"Jinx! Are you all right? What is it?"

"He's... He's there... I can feel it. The... headmaster... I think he's trying to call us..."

"Dammit... Jinx, get to a pod an' wait for me, okay?"

"But...!"

The rogue put his hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes, "I've lost you once, damn near twice. I won't let it happen a third time. _Get to a pod. _I'll be back, I swear it."

Before Jinx could say another word, Swindle raced back to the lower levels. His parting words unlocked another memory. She had been taken away by someone. No, two people. Slade. Terra. Their names are finally clear to her now. The one she'd seen in her dreams so many times was there, too. She remembered being in great pain, as if her arms and legs were being pulled from their sockets. Then, the boy fought them back long enough to free her. His name was still fuzzy in her head. All she knew was that it began with an "S."

Sweep...

Swap...

Swindle... Dammit, Jinx, you're not even trying now!

Wait a sec... It starts with "Swi," doesn't it? Swi- Swi-

Swipe?

A floodgate opened in her head at that moment. Everything came back to her almost instantly. Sounds, sights, words, emotions...

Love.

Tears suddenly streamed from her eyes as renewed warmth spread through her. He had been with her all this time, and now he was fighting to bring her back home. She couldn't allow him to fight alone this time, not while she could still draw breath to cast her spells.

The door leading back to the lower levels was thrown from its tracks by pink energy blasts, and a desperate hex-caster dashed through the smoking wreck.

The rogue made it back to the oversight center just in time to see Cyborg getting trounced by Brother Blood. It seemed like the headmaster could read every punch that Cyborg threw before it was even thrown. No matter what the Titan did, Blood was able to dodge with next to no effort. Where Bee had gone to was anybody's guess.

Swindle drew his daggers. It was time to put the headmaster's precognitive powers to the test. And, speaking of him...

"_DID NO ONE COME TO THIS ACADEMY TO **LEARN?!**_"

Bumblebee's voice came through the hallway quite clearly.

"Oh, I'll show you what I learned, all right!"

Swindle chose that moment to throw the door open and make his entrance, still under the guise of a loyal student. He jumped to the platform where the other combatants were facing off and took the side of Brother Blood.

"Bumblebee, ya lousy traitor!" he spat. "I ain't lettin' ya tear this place down after I went to all the trouble of helpin' build it!"

The brief wink that followed let the Titans in on the ruse.

"Then you'd better come here and try to stop me!" she shot back before firing her electrical blasters at him.

The thief dove and rolled to one side in order to avoid the attack, then suddenly lunged forward in a full body tackle. Bumblebee rolled enough with the hit to keep the wind from being knocked out of her and turned it into a flip kick-throw, sending Swindle high into the air and landing roughly on his back.

Cyborg tried another haymaker on Brother Blood, but this proved futile against someone who had studied every detail in his schematics. Another blast of psychic energy threw him into the wall farthest from the others, and forced him to his knees. While the headmaster's attention was diverted, Bumblebee and Swindle nodded to each other. It was time to end this.

"HEADMASTER BLOOD!"

All fighting ceased at the shout, and all eyes turned to see Jinx standing at the open doorway. She was panting fiercely and her eyes were still glowing bright pink from the exertion. After a few seconds had passed, she collected herself enough to focus her attention on the man she called out.

"Why.. Why did you take me against my will?"

The headmaster visibly faltered, likely surprised to find that his mental domination had been broken.

"I beg your pardon? You.. came to the academy.. of your accord, like everyone else!"

The hexer's hands began to glow, "Liar. I remember what happened now. It's been your fault all this time. It's _your_ fault that I got my heart broken. It's _your_ fault that I've been miserable for the past three weeks! It's _your fault that I lost him!_"

Swindle's eyes opened wide as he listened, "Jinxie...?"

_"The control panel, S! While he's distracted!"_ Bumblebee hissed from behind him. The rogue paid no attention.

Brother Blood advanced towards Jinx and began to focus his mental power upon her again, "My dear Jinx, I don't know what you're talking about... and neither do you."

The sorceress grimaced as she fought against Blood's will. The magic that flowed from her hands soon faded away, as did the light in her eyes.

"N-No.. I do know.." she muttered through tightly clenched teeth. "And.. you're not gonna do it... again!"

Swindle clenched his fists and teeth before charging Brother Blood, intending to deliver a hard knee strike into the headmaster's back. Cyborg, having regained his bearings, had a similar idea in mind and was running in for a left hook while he had the advantage. The collision sent them tumbling into Brother Blood, knocking him flat on his stomach and breaking his concentration. The psion glared up at Swindle and noticed Bumblebee already at work to disable the security system.

"You damned **_fool!_** Now look at what you've done! Stop her before she shuts down the entire base!"

"Yeah, sure."

Mentally crossing his fingers, Swindle got to his feet and hurled three of his knives straight at Bumblebee before Cyborg could stop him. As he had hoped, a quiet chanting started behind him.

All three weapons curved in mid-air just before they struck their target, and pierced the control panel's override circuits instead. With those severed, the base's security systems would no longer respond to any lockdown requests. The main generators were now vulnerable.

Swindle clucked his tongue once, "Guess luck wasn't with me on that one..."

The Titans apparently saw that the advantage was theirs, as the floor beneath them soon began to shudder and ceiling panels crashed down around them. Still playing the part of a Hive student, Swindle dashed towards Jinx and grabbed her wrists. The hexer knew she was in no danger and played along, feigning resistance against the thief's hold.

"I'll get this little troublemaker to an escape pod so you can discipline her later, Teach. Right now, we gotta get outta here."

Brother Blood gritted his teeth and snarled, "That's _two_ schools you owe me, Cyborg..."

The headmaster stormed out of the control room, on his way to his personal escape vessel in his office. Both Swindle and Jinx smiled and waved a farewell to Cyborg and Bumblebee before the rogue ran off to find a pod of their own. Jinx's normal grip around Swindle's middle tightened into a loving squeeze.

"I thought I'd never see you again..."

"The feeling's mutual. We'll talk later, Jinxie. Let's get outta this dump first."

"What about Brother Blood?"

"Oh, he's gonna find a going-away present pretty soon..."

Meanwhile, Brother Blood settled into the seat of his podship and started flipping switches to power it up. To his dismay, nothing seemed to respond at first. The engines would sputter briefly, only to die out again. Frustrated, Blood pressed every button and pushed every lever on the console. A panel opened when he hit a large red button in the middle, revealing a note. The note had only one word written on it, punctuated by a small skull-and-crossbones drawing, "**SUCKER!**"

The headmaster's angry howl was soon drowned out by the explosions of the underwater base.

Swipe and Jinx were already a long way from the base when it blew. They were cramped inside the only remaining escape pod on their floor. Of course, neither seemed to mind the close quarters now, and it gave them a chance to talk for a while.

"I can't believe I almost forgot about you, Swipe..."

"It's okay, Jinxie. I'm just glad you got your head back in order."

Jinx leaned forward to hug him around his neck and watched the undersea base collapse in on itself.

"Do you think it's over?"

"If Teach found that little surprise, it should be smooth sailing from here on... Huh?"

It was then that both of them felt something, a flicker of a shadow in the backs of their minds. Then, their ship suddenly pitched forward as a chunk of metal smashed into it. The shadow became worse when the rogue tried to regain control. His vision was becoming blurred, but he didn't feel fatigued. Something was trying to get into his mind again, and the shriek behind him let him know that Jinx was feeling the same thing. Gritting his teeth, Swipe pulled back on the control yolk as hard as he could.

"Hang on, Jinx! I can't see where we're goin' anymore, an' we might hit land any-- !"

As he said those words, everything stopped with a great jolt. They had hit the base of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just south of Jump City's only beach. With the ship shorting out and sinking fast, Swipe took hold of Jinx's unconscious form and kicked the canopy open. A rush of icy water surrounded him, prompting him to swim in the direction that he felt was up.

The cold water soon broke away to cold air as Swipe continued to swim. He still couldn't see at all, and now a voice added to his troubles.

_"Return to me, my students... Return to me..."_

It was Brother Blood!

"How- How can you still be alive? How did you make it outta there?"

_"Return... Return to me..."_

"NEVER!"

The thief struggled onward with one arm. He had his other arm around Jinx's middle so he could keep her head above water as much as he could, but he could feel his strength giving out from the cold. Even worse, he could still feel her body slipping away with every stroke.

_'Can't feel my legs anymore... Dammit, where's the damn cliff? Am I swimming the right way?'_

He stopped a moment to heft Jinx's limp body higher up out of the water.

_'Hang on, Jinxie... I just gotcha back an' there's no way I'm letting you go this time. Even if I go down with you.'_

_**End of Chapter 15**_

_**In Chapter 16 - **Swipe (no longer known as Swindle) realizes that he and Jinx are not out of danger yet with Brother Blood still out there somewhere. The time for subtlety and deception is over. This has to end. Now._

Author's post-notes: Dairokkan, "Eat the Rich" probably would make a good BG song for the fight. Aerosmith doesn't get played much on my radio stations, and even then it's "Walk This Way" etc, so I'm not very familiar with the song. But I'm pretty sure that it'll fit right in with Swipe/Swindle's musical tastes. To everyone else, I appreciate your patience with me and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. :)


	16. Salvation

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's notes: All previous disclaimers still apply. OC, really AU, songs later. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel...

_Chapter 16  
Salvation_

Swipe threw his free arm into the water again and again in a frantic effort to find the cliff face. With each passing moment, his body was becoming number and his grip on Jinx gradually loosened. He blinked several times to rid himself of the psychic mire that had coated his senses, until he could finally make out a dark brown mass in front of him.

The cliff!

He swung his arm one more time and slapped it hard against the rocky surface. He was probably cut by something, but he couldn't even feel it now. He groped around for some handholds and hoisted himself up, seating himself on an overhang. The rogue carefully sat Jinx on his lap and checked her vital signs as best as he could. The lack of warmth alarmed him right away. He found that her pulse was very weak, and she was not breathing at all.

Swipe rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hands. It seemed that his eyesight was getting better, and the voice was no longer trying to beckon him. He hoped that meant Brother Blood's power isn't as strong as it used to be.

Finally, he could see the beach just a short swim away. Getting his second wind, he waded back into the ocean and pulled Jinx to the more comfortable resting place. Once there, he laid the hexer on her back and proceeded to perform every water rescue maneuver that he learned from the academy.

He pushed his hands into Jinx's stomach first in an attempt to purge any water from her lungs. After a few unsuccessful tries, he turned her onto her back and pushed in on her lower back. A quick check showed a trickle of sea water dribbling from the corner of Jinx's mouth. Not enough to drown her, but certainly not a healthy amount to have in any case.

Certain that her lungs were clear, he turned her back over and put his ear to her mouth. Still no breathing. He checked the artery at her neck and found her weak pulse again. Without even thinking, he leaned down and clamped his mouth over hers to breathe into her lungs.

"C'mon, Jinxie, breathe."

Another breath. There seemed to be no response from her. Swipe cursed to himself and to the ocean.

"Dammit, this ain't fair! You can't take her _now!_"

He tried again and watched her chest rise and fall only once.

"Jinx, please... Please don't leave me. _Breathe!_"

Another breath. The fifth one, probably. He'd already lost count by that time.

"Don't you die on me, Jinx! I can't lose you now! Not after all we've gone through!"

He hung his head for a brief moment out of his growing despair, which kept him from seeing her chest rise again on its own.

"Please, Jinx... I- I love you too much... I can't be without ya now."

He leaned over her and tried once more. Before he could push more breath into Jinx's lungs, he felt her arms reach up behind his back and hold onto him. Her lips pushed back against his this time.

Their first kiss.

They pulled away after only a few seconds, when Jinx needed to cough. She managed to sit up with some help and turned to her long-lost boyfriend with a weak smile and a very faint blush.

"I guess that's two lives I owe you now."

Swipe simply smiled as he wrapped his arms around her again, holding her as tight as he could. The act caught her by surprise, but it didn't take long for her to return the favor.

"Tell me... Tell me I'm not dreaming..." she whispered.

"You're not dreaming. An' if you are, just don't wake up this time."

The hex-caster smiled and snuggled against him, still wanting to make sure.

"I'm sorry I've put you through so much trouble, Swipe."

"No trouble at all. I couldn't just letcha go after the impression you left in me. After Brother Blood took you, I suddenly noticed that the motel is a lot colder an' a whole lot quieter. I just... I couldn't take it."

Jinx giggled, "Oh, stop it. You're embarrassing me."

"I mean it! Ever since you dropped into my life, I haven't been able to go back to bein' the wandering thief who plunders the senator's kitchen every other weekend an' always preferred to work alone. I just can't do that anymore. You're somethin' special to me now, Jinxie. I mean, _listen_ to me! I'm babblin' like crazy!"

The sorceress's blush brightened on her cheeks, a good sign of her returning health.

"I like ya a lot, Jinx. I wouldn't trade you for all the treasure in the world."

She smiled and leaned into him once more, happy to hear him say that. Swipe noticed a few stray bangs flattened against her forehead and brushed them away. This brought Jinx to the realization that her hairstyle had been destroyed by the water. She frantically tried to push it all back up as it was, but her pink curls cascaded back down around her shoulders again. It was then that she caught Swipe watching her, causing her to turn away a little with a much stronger blush across her face.

"You shouldn't stare. It's impolite."

"Sorry. I've just never seen you with your hair down like that."

"It looks awful like this."

"You kidding me? I think you look cute that way."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm."

Jinx's blush had now spread across the bridge of her nose while she remained silent.

"It doesn't matter how you look. It's _never_ mattered. It's your heart that matters, and that's why I like ya so much."

Jinx smiled for a few seconds, "You still like me, even after seeing what I really am?"

"You're not really like that, though. I've seen the real you. You like having friends an' you care about 'em a lot. You really don't want to hurt anybody, but the friends you had always pushed you into doin' it. You became a villainess just because of the people you hung out with."

Her smile turned sad at the mention of her old friends, "You know... If Gizmo and Mammoth come looking for me, they'll want me to join them again."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, then..."

A moment of silence was shared between them as they gazed out at the ocean. Swipe couldn't enjoy the moment, though. The threat of losing Jinx to Brother Blood's control again was still very real, but there was no way of knowing when or where he'd strike next. The last thing he wanted was to be caught unaware again.

Jinx's abrupt sneeze brought the rogue back out of his thoughts. He needed to get her back to the motel so she could dry off and change out of those wet clothes. It wouldn't be a bad idea to regroup and plan the next move, anyways. With that decided, Swipe got to his feet and offerred the hexer a helping hand.

"C'mon, let's go home. We both need a dry change of clothes and some rest after all this."

Jinx accepted his hand and got to her feet. She carefully climbed onto his back and slid her arms under his to wrap them around his chest. Swipe got a few goosebumps when he felt her nuzzle into the back of his neck.

"Comfy back there?"

"Mm-hm, feels just like old times already."

The rogue smirked and said, "Good. Hang on. I can't go real fast, but I think I've got enough left in me to get us home."

Swipe took off running, zigzagging his way down several city blocks. The trip was made in silence. Swipe wasn't sure if he should ask Jinx about Cyborg/Stone now, as he feared it might make her depressed again. Likewise, Jinx remained silent over her memories of Stone because she knew that Swipe had just reconciled with the Titan and didn't want to reopen the old wound.

The rogue slowed down as he got within three blocks of the hideout to conserve what little strength he had left.

"Hey, Jinx..."

He immediately cursed himself for blurting that out.

"Yes?"

Swipe stayed quiet for a moment, still not sure of what to say next.

"What is it, Swipe?"

"... Nothing. I'll ask ya later."

Jinx tried to look at Swipe's face to see if something was bothering him, but to no avail.

"Are you sure you're okay? You act like something's bothering you."

"I'm fine, Jinx. Just need to rest, I think."

At last, they reached the motel. The place didn't look any different from when they were here last. There was one exception: A small piece of paper had been taped to the office door. Swipe eased Jinx off of his back before investigating. The writing on the note had a thin, graceful design, and appeared to be written with exact precision.

_"Swipe- Sorry we doubted you. Maybe keeping your home from being demolished will be a way to make it up to you? -Raven & the rest."_

The thief chuckled at the note and folded it up, murmuring to himself, "Looks like I've got a debt to repay..."

He pushed the key into the slot and turned it, opening the door slowly and peeking in. Nothing seemed different about the place. The beanbag chair sat in the same place and looked like it retained the same shape as it did when he left. The television was still in its usual spot across from the chair. Jinx looked out into the living room over Swipe's shoulder.

"Well, this place kept up pretty well with nobody here."

The rogue nodded once, just as he started to notice a dull pain throbbing in his arm. Looking almost blankly down at his forearm, he found a rather angry-looking gash right in the middle. He had cut himself on the cliff face, after all.

Jinx spotted it soon after and gasped, "Swipe! You're hurt!"

"It's not that bad..."

"Yes, it is! We've got to get this bandaged up! You're lucky it didn't hit an artery!"

Jinx pulled Swipe into the bathroom and immediately began searching for anything that looked like first aid items. She found hydrogen peroxide, some antibiotic cream, and enough bandages to turn Swipe into a mummy. No time was wasted as she went to work, tending her friend's injury.

"Jinxie, you don't have to do this."

"What're you talking about? You've saved me twice now, so I have to repay you somehow."

Swipe watched as she cleaned and bandaged the wound. To break the silence, the sorceress tried to start a conversation.

"What happened while I was... um, away?"

He looked up and met her gaze. It hadn't occurred to him that she never knew what he went through after Brother Blood abducted her.

"I... Brother Blood left me to deal with Slade an' Terra by myself. I couldn't do it... Got the holy hell beaten outta me... Managed to get away, somehow, 'cuz I remember waking up in the hospital room at Titan's Tower. Slade made his move a few days later, sent an army of robots into the city with Terra as their general."

Jinx nodded as she listened, while making sure the bandages were secured around the rogue's arm.

"I held off this huge, freakin' monster that I guess was s'posed to be three guys all rolled into one. Even he was too tough for me..." Swipe sighed heavily, "I couldn't save the world, let alone you."

"Sounds like it might have been Cinderblock. Don't feel so bad. It usually takes all five Titans to bring him down."

"Still, in the end, they were able to beat Slade. His base blew sky high, which I'm guessing took him and Terra with it."

"So, Terra's...?"

"She'd hafta be. It looked like those movies of Mount St. Helens erupting. Nobody could've survived that."

She looked down to the floor for a moment, giving the late geomancer a belated moment of silence. In the interim, Swipe still could not stop thinking about Jinx's relationship with Stone. His desire to know finally won out.

"Jinx?"

"Hmm?"

"What happened... between you an' Stone?"

The hex-caster balked at the name of her false ex-boyfriend. The remaining bandages fell from her hands to the floor with a quiet thud.

"It.. It was nothing."

"Jinxie..."

"We got kind of close, but nothing ever happened. Nothing had a chance to..."

"D'you remember what made you so sweet on him?"

"A little. When my memories were erased, I kinda went back to being the weird girl that everyone avoided. The other students were the most afraid of my power because it was the only one they couldn't understand. At that time, when I didn't know you, I started to think they had gotten to you when I didn't see as much of you anymore."

"That was because of Brother Blood sendin' me out to get junk for his 'project'. An' I didn't wanna try givin' you too much information about your past, because I didn't know if you'd believe me."

Jinx nodded and continued, "And then I met Stone. I hoped that the other students wouldn't tell him about me or my powers, and that he'd like me for who I am. I guess you could say that I saw the same things in him that I see in you."

Swipe listened closely, inviting her to go on.

"I did wonder why he seemed so nervous whenever I'd get close to him. Now I know, of course. The strange thing at the time was that after the dance, he suddenly turned around and started warming up to me."

"Brother Blood strikes again."

Jinx sighed, "It felt like I had really found the one for me then. But then the Titans showed up, and that's when I found out the truth. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I suddenly felt used... Alone..."

She curled her arms around herself as she remembered those moments, finding them so similar to when she was first thrown out of the Hive Academy. When she wanted to do nothing but end her suffering.

But, that was also when she ended up landing in Swipe's arms. Arms that were now around her shoulders, holding her close and making her feel safe again. She sniffled and smiled before her arms similarly wrapped around Swipe's back.

"Those times are over, Jinxie. I told you before that everyone deserves a second chance. This is ours. Things'll be better from now on, I promise." He helped her stand up again, "Let's get cleaned up and changed. All your clothes should still be in your closet. I never moved 'em."

She smiled a bit and playfully poked his stomach, "Better not have. It's rude to go through a lady's things."

"Thieves usually don't follow those rules, but I've got more restraint than they do."

"Says the hopeless kleptomaniac."

"Just take your shower!"

After a few minutes, both teens were clean of sea salt, dressed in fresh clothes, and feeling much better after the ordeal in the ocean base. Jinx chose to wear her old nightgown since she was already quite worn out after all that had happened. Swipe had the same idea, as he was already in some flannel pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. They came out of their respective doors and nearly bumped into each other.

Jinx giggled upon seeing what her friend was wearing, "I take it this means you aren't going to The Retro Zone tonight?"

"Are you kiddin' me? I still feel like a truck ran over me. Repeatedly." He stretched his arms and yawned, "B'sides, it's not like it'll grow legs an' walk away in the morning. I'll visit them soon enough."

The hexer closed the space between them in only a couple of steps, hugging Swipe tightly, "Then, I guess this is 'Good night,' huh?"

"Good night, but not goodbye." He embraced her just as tight, and added a peck to her forehead, "Sweet dreams, Jinxie. I don't think you've had many lately."

She smiled up at him with a small blush across her cheeks, "I haven't, but I'm sure they will be tonight. Good night, Swipe. See you in the morning."

They held onto each other for a minute more before going their separate ways to bed. Swipe rubbed his eyes a few times and scratched various itches over his torso before climbing into bed. The whole act appeared to be a lot more laborious than it normally would be. The exhausted rogue fell onto his stomach and promptly dropped off into slumber, while Jinx quietly slipped under her covers and did the same.

Swipe soon found himself all alone and in total darkness, fumbling to find a wall or a light source to help him find his way. He finally felt a light switch under his fingers and flipped it on, which caused two spotlights to shine brightly before him. Standing in each spotlight were Jinx and Cyborg, and both were gazing at the other. They walked towards each other and embraced tightly before glancing in Swipe's direction with smirks on their lips and a familiar red aura glowing in their eyes.

Before Swipe could say anything, Brother Blood's face appeared over the couple and fixed his glare upon the thief.

"_Come to me, my students. Come to Steel City!_"

"No! You- You don't control me! You can't control her! Jinxie, snap out of it!"

"_Join me in Steel City. Come to me..."_

"JINX!"

Whether Swipe shouted that name out loud or only in his dream would remain unknown as he suddenly awoke and sat bolt upright. Sweat rolled off his brow as he looked around for intruders. Finding none, he leapt from his bed and out of his bedroom to check on Jinx. If that message was no dream...

He parted open the curtains to her "bedroom" and found her thin form still sleeping peacefully under the blankets. Breathing a sigh of relief, he knelt down next to her bed and placed his hand on her shoulder. He watched her sleep for twenty minutes before fatigue quelled his adrenaline rush and he drifted back to sleep, this time on the floor.

_**End of Chapter 16**_

_**In Chapter 17** - Worried over the threat Brother Blood poses to his relationship with Jinx, Swipe tries to determine where Steel City is and what makes it the target of the headmaster's next strike rather than Jump City. However, business in crime-fighting never seems to go stale..._


	17. Investigation

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's Notes: All previous disclaimers still apply here. Since this story's is already flagged for AU, I'm taking a bit of a liberty with the chronology. Just a little warning so you're not scratching your heads later. :P

_Chapter 17  
Investigation_

Swipe awoke before Jinx did, just after daybreak. He rocked his head from side to side to get the kinks in his neck out and attempted to do the same with his back, eliciting a few disturbing cracking noises in the process. To the rogue's surprise, none of it awakened Jinx. Figuring that she had a harder night than he though, Swipe decided to let her rest some more and headed to the back lot for some target practice. He found his training arena in severe disrepair, with weeds sprouting up in several patches and most of his makeshift drones partially rusted and malfunctioning.

"As grateful as I am that they kept my home from bein' torn down, I wish they'd've kept it _up_ a little, too," he muttered as he tossed one of the broken drones onto a pile of its brethren. "Guess I'm not trainin' today..."

After checking on the still-sleeping hex-caster, Swipe headed off into the city in search of new supplies. He passed by the library on his way to a construction site, and figured a little research into what made Steel City so special to Brother Blood couldn't hurt. The trip was only a few minutes out of his way, and finding a free computer would take even less time. Swipe immediately opened a search engine site and entered the words "Steel City."

After a few pages concerning the history and culture of the city, Swipe started finding the local news sites. The first of the links brought him to an online news forum, with a huge top story headline.

_**Steel City Welcomes New Heroes to the East Coast!**_

_Today marks the arrival of a new branch to Jump City's famous band of crime-fighters, the Teen Titans. They have been dubbed the Titans East by the mayor and have already begun construction of their very own version of Titans Tower. The current standing members of Titans East are Aqualad, Speedy, Mas Y Menos, and Bumblebee. It is not clear yet if a leader has been chosen, or if one will be chosen at all. Base construction is nearly complete..._

"Bumblebee, eh?" Swipe thought out loud, glancing back over the article. None of the other names rang any bells for him, unless they were all going by aliases while in the academy. Still, he noted to himself to warn Bumblebee of a possible attack from Brother Blood. He knew she turned on him, so it was entirely possible that he would hunt her down and exact his revenge.

What bothered him, however, was the lack of any activity in the Steel City area.

He looked at the headlines from the last few weeks and saw nothing out of the ordinary. So, why this big move? Most of the supervillains were already centralized in Jump City, thanks to all the industry and high-end technological facilities. Steel City appeared to be more aligned towards metal fabrication and the like. The only one who might be interested in that would the the rogue himself, not a megalomaniac bent on world domination. Even Brother Blood scavenged the materials for the underwater base from the ruins of the academy, only needing specific metals and glass to construct his secret weapon.

Come to think of it, there was no mention of previous attempts at robbing any of these places. Brother Blood's machinations were never subtle, as the results were usually quite visible and announced on the morning news. Furthermore, the article hailing the arrival of Titans East wasn't very old. If Brother Blood was going to hit them, he would have done so already. Something wasn't adding up...

"I never thought I'd find you here," a quiet, raspy voice spoke from just over the thief's shoulder.

Swipe nearly jumped from his seat, or perhaps he had done so in the time it takes for the human eye to blink once. He turned a wide-eyed gaze towards Raven, who stood just behind him with a few books in her arms.

"_Raven!_" he breathed. His words came out more like a whisper's version of shouting. "_You scared the __**crap**__ outta me!"_

"Sorry. I didn't know you were that deep in thought. What're you up to?"

Swipe appeared hurt, "Why does everyone ask me that? Like I'm always causin' trouble..."

"Because you usually _are_ causing trouble," she replied with a smirk. "Alright then, how about Jinx?"

"She's fine right now. Just sleeping back at the motel."

"Mm. That's good to hear..." The cloaked Titan snuck a glance past the rogue to see what he was looking at, "So, I guess you've heard about it too?"

"What, the Titans East? I only just now read about it. I didn't think Bumblebee would make that big a step so soon."

"That's not quite what I was talking about."

"Huh? Whaddaya mean?"

"Cyborg was sent to Steel City to help start up the eastern branch about two days ago. I heard Robin say that the base was attacked last night. and now Cyborg's decided to stay there as leader." She sighed once, "I knew something like with was going to happen..."

A chill of realization raced up Swipe's spine as he listened. All the pieces to this puzzle suddenly snapped into place.

"It's a trap..."

"What did you say?"

"That's it! That's _gotta_ be it! It's a _TRAP!_"

"Swipe, what do you mean..."

Without waiting for the rest question, Swipe shot out of the library and left Raven more worried than confused. Once she checked her books out, she wasted no time in returning to Titans Tower. Talk of a "trap" and the sudden shift in the rogue's emotions were definitely things to report back to Robin.

Meanwhile, Swipe was already back at the motel and checking on Jinx. She was still sound asleep, which made the thief's departure all the easier. He quickly wrote up a note and pinned it to the curtain surrounding Jinx's bed. He hesitated for just a moment to give his girlfriend one last look. He didn't want to leave her alone again, but, if Brother Blood regains his power, there would never be any peace for either of them.

The rogue leaned down to kiss Jinx's forehead, which caused a warm smile to spread across her face. He smiled as he watched her before heading to the front door, vowing silently to return only after their former headmaster was defeated.

It would be two and a half hours before Jinx awoke to the small rectangle of paper that was attached near her face. She sat up and unfolded the note, waiting for her eyes to adjust before reading.

_Jinxie,_

_I won't be here when you wake up, and I'm sorry for that. I have a good hunch that the Teach is going to hit Cyborg while he's in Steel City. It's the only chance I'll have at taking him down, once and for all. I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't get you up. Well, it's because I didn't want to see you get hurt, or worse. I know what you're going to say, that you're a tough girl and can take care of yourself, but I can't risk losing you a third time._

_Please, just this once, stay in Jump City. I'll make it up to you, I promise._

_Love,_

_Swipe_

Jinx felt a knot of dread tightening in her stomach as she read. Without so much as a second thought, she jumped from her bed and quickly got dressed. She wasn't there for Swipe when he had to battle Slade, and she would be damned if she let that happen again with Brother Blood. The hex-caster was about to leave the motel hideout when she realized that she had no idea where he was or, if she did, any way to make up the head start he likely had. A part of her still hated to admit it, but there was only one group she knew of that could help her now.

Later that evening, at Titan's Tower...

Beast Boy had just finished his quick game of Super Ninja Showdown 6, where he had managed to knock another Cyborg high-score entry from its perch, when he heard a frantic buzzing coming from the front door's intercom. Before letting the others know, he decided to investigate personally. Maybe it would be something he could resolve himself.

He was shocked to see Jinx standing on the other side of the door, cheeks streaked with tears and eyes filled with anxiety.

"J-Jinx? What're you---"

She held the note up to the shapechanger's face and said in a very terse voice, "There's not a lot of time to explain. I need to get to Steel City before it's too late, and you guys are the only ones who can get me there before Swipe does."

"Wait a minute. Isn't he supposed to be back at... uh... wherever it is you're supposed to be?"

"He was there last night. When I woke up this afternoon, though, he was gone. All I found was this note, saying he's going to Steel City to stop Brother Blood from attacking Cyborg."

Beast Boy hesitated to buy her story at first. Jinx had been brainwashed by Brother Blood once. It might have happened again...

"You have to believe me! I don't want him going out there by himself! I need to be there with him!"

"Let her in, Beast Boy," Raven's quiet voice spoke from the adjacent hallway door. "She's telling the truth."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I already told Robin the same exact thing. I ran into Swipe at the library earlier today. He was looking up Steel City."

Jinx stared at Raven intently, absorbing every word she said.

"When I mentioned Cyborg going there to lead Titans East, he said something about a trap and left in a flash. I guess my premonition was right, after all..." Raven looked back to Beast Boy, "Let her come in. Maybe her story will convince Robin to help Cyborg."

The green Titan was about to protest the idea, but a sharp glare quickly overturned the decision. Jinx was then led inside to the main meeting room, where Robin and Starfire were watching television. Actually, Robin was flipping back and forth between the various national news channels with a rather sullen look on his face while Starfire brainstormed on ways to cheer her best friend up. When the two Titans noticed Jinx's entry, they both got to their feet and prepared uncertain battle stances. Raven was the first to speak.

"Relax. She's fine, and she's got a favor to ask."

Robin lowered his fists, "A what?"

"That's what _I_ said..." Beast Boy muttered.

Jinx ignored all comments and held up the note again, "I came here to ask for your help. Swipe is already on his way to Steel City. He believes Cyborg's in trouble, and Brother Blood is the one behind it again. I'm not letting him face the headmaster alone. Please... Please, help me."

Robin mulled over this for a moment. What Jinx said coincided with Raven's report on Swipe, and if Brother Blood was still at large...

Jinx mistook the pause for disbelief, "You have to believe me! I know what I've done before doesn't make it easy to trust me, but I'd never lie about Swipe! If he's going to fight, then I want to fight too!"

The room fell silent, with the Titans slightly dumbfounded at seeing this particular side of Jinx.

"I can't lose him, either..." The sorceress sniffled and added quietly, "I don't want to be alone again..."

Starfire was the first to step towards Jinx. Just listening to the sorceress's story, she knew for sure that this was the same Jinx that danced the night away at The Retro Zone and found a new purpose in her life. She gently placed her hands on Jinx's shoulders and smiled.

"I believe you... Friend." She looked to her fellow Titans, "We shall help her, yes?"

For a moment, all eyes fell to Robin. Their leader considered the matter for only a few seconds before giving a firm nod.

"Titans, we're heading to Steel City. Jinx, you're welcome to come with us."

The hexer felt her eyes welling up all over again, as she never once believed that it would feel so good to be accepted like this. She furtively tried to keep her head down and use her bangs to hide her tears.

"Thank you... Thank you all." She cleared her throat and rubbed the heel of her hand against her eyes before looking back up and seeing the Titans looking on with smiles of varying degrees on their faces. After an embarrassed giggle, she said, "Well, why is everybody standing around and staring at me? Are we going to Steel City or not?"

With a single nod from Robin, the four Teen Titans ran for the hangar bay with Jinx right behind them.

At that same moment, halfway across the country, Swipe was riding a freight train to conserve energy on his trip eastward. He held Jinx's bracelet in his left hand, letting it weave between his fingers as he looked at it. Despite not being able to give it back to its rightful owner, he was glad to still have it as a reminder of the girl he was fighting for. A thought crossed his mind; a lyric from a song he remembered hearing on the radio, which influenced his musical preferences for the rest of his life.

_'Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?'_

The memory of that song would help the rogue fall asleep, still wondering if he did indeed have what it takes to be a hero.

_**End of Chapter 17**_

_**In Chapter 18 - **__All of the performers are ready to take the stage. Brother Blood is set to strike, Swipe is racing to stop him, and Jinx is ready to put herself at risk for the one she cares for. What will happen when the curtain rises? We'll soon find out! (I hope!)_


	18. Opposition

Swindle by SecondLevelWriter (Ed Alger)

Author's Notes: Many thanks for your patience. This story will be completed, by hook or by crook. Oh yeah, and all disclaimers still apply... yada yada, you know the rest.

_Chapter 18  
Opposition_

"Steel City... Industry Central... nothing but factories an' construction as far as you can see... smells like oil... and _damn is it cold!_"

It had been three days since he left Jinx and Jump City to finish his quest. After riding one last freight train into the city, he jumped off and looked to the beach where he knew the eastern Titan base was. A brief twinge of uncertainty went through him as he wondered if he was too late. Trainhopping wasn't as fast as running, but at least he was now fresh for the fight he was certain to have with Brother Blood. After fastening Jinx's gold bracelet to his belt loop, the rogue ran into the city to find that tower. It wouldn't take him long.

The tower seemed oddly quiet for a place that was supposed to be a trap. The rogue shook that thought out of his head for the moment and focused on the task at hand. There didn't appear to be any windows on the lower floors of the tower, and the floors that had windows were easily over a hundred feet up. Those same windows looked sheer, which would make grappling impossible. That left one last method to get into the place, and that was the old-fashioned way. Swipe broke out his tools.

"All those days of breakin' into the senator's mansion are about to _really_ pay off," he muttered to himself as he worked.

A few minutes of wire cutting and rearranging, the control panel emitted a rewarding beep and the door released its pressure lock. With a bit of effort, the thief pushed the door open just enough for him to slip inside.

The entire place was dark and quiet. Too quiet. Way too quiet for a tower that should be under siege by now. Swipe took a few tentative steps in, muscles tensing as he readied himself for anything. A single, metallic form entered through a nearby doorway and waited at its threshold. The rogue grabbed a few throwing knives before recognizing the silhouette.

"Oh, Cyborg! Geez, you almost made me jump outta my skin... Listen, have there been any-"

Before the question was finished, a blast of sonic energy missed Swipe's head by inches. He looked at the impact crater in the wall behind him and turned back to who he thought was Cyborg.

"Hey! Hold your fire! It's me, Swipe! Don'cha recognize... me...?"

His words trailed off as the person stepped into the hallway. It looked exactly like Cyborg, except that it was _all_ robot. Its circuit panels glowed a bright yellow rather than the familiar blue, and it leveled Cyborg's trademark sonic cannon at the rogue's face once more. Now that it was identified as hostile, Swipe dashed forward and made a lunging slash with his dagger. The move cleanly cut the cannon from the robot's arm, and a follow-up stab to the head put it down for good.

He didn't have much time to relax after his accomplishment, however. Three more emerged from various rooms down the hall, while several more trudged from further down the way. Swipe clenched his fists around the hilts of his daggers and ran straight at them, slicing the head off of the first one he made it to. Silvery arcs flashed in the dimly-lit hallway as the mechanoid squad was reduced to piles of scrap metal, with the last of the troop taking both daggers in its chest. With its power core ruptured, the cloned Cyborg fell over backwards like a store mannequin.

After a moment to collect himself, the rogue muttered, "Well, that was... almost _therapeutic_..." He looked up from the fallen robot and saw even more advancing upon him. "Dammit! How many of you guys are there gonna _be?!_"

Even as the opening shots were fired, Swipe leapt into the fray. Two robots were slashed through their chests, another was decapitated before it could train its weapon, and three more lost their arms and legs to Swipe's lethal blades. The rogue barely needed a moment to regain his footing, which was just long enough to see the remaining six robots charge their cannons and aim at his head.

Swipe smirked, an expression that was scarcely registered on their optical scanners, and whirled into a flurry of throwing knives. The troops were thoroughly ventilated by the attack and soon collapsed when their holed legs could no longer support them. Swipe yanked his adamantine daggers from the head of the last robot and sheathed them.

At that moment, he heard some muffled explosions coming from above him. A few even shook the walls of the tower.

"Not good... _Really_ not good..."

He quickly searched the area for any way to move up through the tower. The elevators were no help with the power being out, so the old-fashioned method of stair climbing was chosen. Another platoon of Cyborg copies blocked the way through as they watched for intruders. The thief grinned to himself as he set his plan of attack into motion.

One of the robots suddenly crumped to the ground, the victim of a fierce stabbing. The others snapped to attention, pointing their weapons towards the only entrance and exit to the landing. A flash of movement later, Swipe was jumping from one metal head to another while the androids tried their best to shoot him down, only to succeed in shooting each other. With one last flip off the back of the survivor, the rogue plunged his daggers into its back and twisted them to ensure that the thing's power core was completely destroyed.

"I don't care how many of these things I gotta go through, I'm still takin' you down tonight!" he said aloud before racing up the stairs.

With each floor, the scene remained the same. No lights, and no people. Just more of those robots. This time, Swipe decided to slink past the guards by using his speed. Brother Blood's machines barely picked up the flicker of movement from the hallway, but returned to their work when it didn't repeat itself. Just as he was about to pat himself of the back for a job well done, he spotted a patrol headed his way. Thinking fast, he ran up the wall and dug his daggers into the ceiling. The plan seemed to work as the robots marched beneath him with no reaction. Breathing a sigh of relief, the rogue dropped back to the floor and hurried up the next staircase.

The sounds of battle were getting louder as he ascended, causing the thief's muscles to tense in anticipation. He crept to the final doorway and took a quick glance into the next room. Inside, he saw four of the five Teen Titans battling who he assumed were the Titans East. Each member had the well-known crimson glow in their eyes. There was no sign of Cyborg that he could tell. However, the one person he did see made his blood chill. It was Jinx, helping Starfire hold Bumblebee at bay.

'_Jinx is here!'_

Instinctively, the thief leapt into the fray and cut down four arrows as they sailed towards Raven. He then intercepted Bumblebee's electric blasts with this daggers and tossed two throwing knives back, disarming his converted friend in a shower of sparks. Just as he was about to ask Jinx about what she was doing there, a column of water blew him off his feet and across the room. Nobody had a chance to react, as Swipe had gotten back up and tackled the culprit, Aqualad.

While he held the enslaved Titan against the wall, Swipe growled, "Where's Brother Blood?"

Aqualad's only reply was a loug grunt as he attempted to break free.

"_Tell me!_ Or, so help me, I'll throw you like a skipping stone across that pool!"

After another failed escape attempt, Aqualad desperately cried out a single word.

"**HEADMASTER!**"

That very instant, Brother Blood's voice boomed from all directions, "Don't worry, my students! Help is on the way!"

From every door, dozens upon dozens of cloned Cyborg robots filed into the room and primed their sonic cannons. Swipe could only stare at the congregation while his grip on Aqualad gradually loosened. He had enough time to make an astute observation.

"This... is gonna suck..."

In an instant, the mechanoids opened fire. Bright blue beams of sonic energy sent the Titans scrambling for cover while Swipe and Jinx found refuge behind a computer terminal. The rogue gritted his teeth as he glanced around the corner and saw the stairway he needed to get to. The Titans were making a move, as well, by splitting into two teams and drawing fire as best as they could. Swipe was about to make a run for it when Jinx grabbed his wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I have to find Brother Blood. I can't let him win after all the crap he's put me through!"

"And you thought you could just leave me in Jump City, wondering what happened to you? Blood has messed up my life just as much as he has yours. If you're going to fight him, then I'm coming with you!"

"Jinxie, I can't-"

"Can't what? See me get hurt? I can take some knocks if I have to. I've done it before against the Teen Titans, and I can do it against Brother Blood!"

"That's not it..."

"Then what is it? I'll get in your way? I don't have the strength?"

"I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

Amid the cacophony of battle, those seven words rang clearly in Jinx's ears. Swipe's head lowered as he continued.

"I can't... _lose you_... It's just not the same when you're not around..."

The hexer fought back a few tears, but firmly placed her hands on the thief's shoulders. Just as he looked up at her, she placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"You won't. I promise."

A slow smile spread across Swipe's face, while Jinx's did the same. He nodded once and firmly took hold of her hand. Together, they made a run for the stairs and narrowly avoided being blasted by a wild shot. Neither of them looked back as they climbed, as their focus remained solely on finding the former headmaster and Cyborg. The sounds of battle soon filtered through the doorway ahead of them. They had finally reached to roof of the tower.

After carefully opening the door, Swipe peered out across the expanse of concrete. Without warning, Cyborg flew past him and slammed into a ventilation port. The thief gestured for Jinx to stay where she was and took a few tentative steps out into the open.

"Ah, Swindle!" a familiar voice called. "You're just in time to witness the rebirth of my academy. Once I've properly _disciplined_ Cyborg, that is..."

A lance of red psionic energy blazed past Swipe and blasted Cyborg backwards all over again, this time knocking the Titan's sensors offline for a moment. The rogue turned around to see Brother Blood, only now with a full array of cybernetic enhancements akin to Cyborg's. Several sections of his metallic skin pulsed with a red glow. Whether it was from his own psychic energies or an internal power source, Swipe wasn't sure.

_'What the hell did he __do__ to himself?'_

Rather than speak his mind, Swipe casually asked, "Wow, Teach, you look different somehow. Didja do somethin' with your hair?"

Brother Blood frowned at the remark, but answered him nonetheless, "I've done more than that, Swindle. I have _perfected myself!_ When my academy reopens, so shall _all_ of my students!"

Jinx peered out of the doorway at this moment, and caught the attention of the former headmaster. The man grinned with delight at seeing yet another of his students returning to his side.

"And I see you've brought Jinx with you. Very well done!" He began to stride over to the sorceress as he continued, "Just think... Your magic and _your_ speed will soon be vastly improved with cybernetics! With the discoveries I've made through Cyborg's blueprints, I can mold my students the way I want them; powerful, intelligent... _obedient_..."

Jinx tensed as she watched her old teacher advance on her, waiting for the right time to hex him. Just before he reached the hex-caster, however, Brother Blood sensed something hurtling at him from behind. His mental shield came up just in time to deflect a throwing knife. To his surprise, it was thrown by Swindle.

"Swindle, what's the meaning of this?"

"Keep away from her."

"Wh-What??"

"I said, _**back off!**_"

Another pair of blades flew through the air towards Blood's head, and were again repelled by the shield. The teacher turned to stare down his student, his face turning grim and focused.

"Swindle, I demand that you explain yourself this instant."

"Alright. First off, my name's not Swindle. It's _Swipe_." After watching Brother Blood's face go blank as he vainly searched his memory, the rogue continued, "You an' Gizmo took away something very precious to me several months ago, then you left me for dead in Slade's hideout. Ring any bells now?"

Blood's eyes finally narrowed as he remembered, "So, that _was_ you..."

Swipe smirked.

"That's right. All this time, I've been in your damned academy an' did everything you told me to just so I could get her back. I never cared about bein' your top student. I never cared about your _school_." The thief drew his daggers and declared, "After everything you've done to me an' what I've put up with, you owe me _big-time_!"

"And he's not the only one wanting revenge..." a quiet voice murmured behind the headmaster.

At that moment, Jinx's eyes began to glow with magical energy as she chanted a spell. Brother Blood reacted as quickly as he could to reflect the spell blast with his psychic shield, but it left him wide open to Swipe's opening attack. The rogue plowed into his former teacher with a shoulder tackle, throwing the larger man to the ground for just a moment. Blood was back on his feet instantly and responded with an energy-charged palm thrust to Swipe's stomach.

The impact threw the rogue onto his back, but he rolled backwards to his feet again and continued his attack. Five more knives sailed through the air at Brother Blood, only to have four of them bounce off the psychic shield like before. Just as Blood was about to chastise Swipe for making the same mistake thrice, the fifth knife caromed off of an air vent and put a dime-sized dent in his metal skin. A satisfied smirk crossed the rogue's face. After the initial exchange, Swipe had managed to deal the first telling blow.

Brother Blood's circuitry sizzled with anger at that fact. He tried to answer with a crimson blast of energy, but the rogue easily dodged. Meanwhile, Jinx was finishing up a second spell and cast it at Blood's back. The hex took firm hold this time, causing a brief surge in the former teacher's power supply. The interruption left Brother Blood with nothing else to do but withstand a hard roundhouse kick from Swipe. As he was thrown to his knees, Blood's cybernetics glowed brighter than ever from sheer frustration.

"Two against one? How dare you..."

The headmaster leapt to his feet and fixed a wrathful glare upon his adversaries. Swipe had also resisted the mind control all this time, but how? First Cyborg, then Bumblebee, and now _him!_ It's simply impossible! To top it all off, Jinx appears to have also broken free after the explosion at the second academy. How could things have gone so wrong, so quickly?

_'Wait. Jinx... Yes, she had been fairly easy to dominate when I first acquired her. Perhaps some of that mental seed still remains.'_

Brother Blood focused his attention on Jinx for just a moment before having to defend against another salvo of knives. In that flash of a moment, he noticed the girl's reaction. Jinx visibly winced, as if she were trying to shake off a cold-induced headache. The teacher sneered in anticipation.

"I'll just have to even the odds."

_**End of Chapter 18**_

_**In Chapter 19 - **__Swipe's battle with Brother Blood has only just begun, and he's about to learn more from the headmaster than ever. When it comes to an enemy that can control minds, nobody can be trusted!_


	19. Complication

Swindle by SecondLevelWriter (Ed Alger)

Author's Notes: Many thanks for your patience. This story will be completed, by hook or by crook. Oh yeah, and all disclaimers still apply... yada yada, you know the rest. This part of the story seriously deviates from what we already know (and isn't that what fanfics are for, anyway?). I'm trying for something that I hope is a little better, with some extra drama thrown in for good measure.

_Chapter 19  
__Complication_

Swipe noticed a brief lapse in Brother Blood's attack and quickly put up his guard, anticipating a psionic attack. Jinx followed suit, casting a quick shielding spell in front of herself. It was then that she heard a voice speak inside her mind. A voice that she thought had been cast out.

_'Jinx. Remember that you are __my__ student... You obey only __me__...'_

Swipe's first warning came when Jinx's incantation sharply cut off. He looked over to see the hexer's eyes shut tightly and her teeth clenched. Looking back, he saw that Brother Blood's eyes were indeed focused upon Jinx rather than him. Without a second thought, the rogue threw a handful of knives at his former teacher to try and break his concentration. The plan seemed to work, as Brother Blood had to bring up his psychic shield to deflect the attack.

"I told you to leave her alone! You've done enough damage!"

"_Damage?!_" the headmaster scoffed. "Young man, 'damage' is the loss of two _wonderful_ academies... 'damage' is the loss of dozens of promising students! **DAMAGE is the destruction of everything that you've worked for YEARS to build!**"

"Damage is when someone you care about forgets who you are, too."

By this time, Cyborg had regained his bearings and pulled himself to his feet. He was surprised that Brother Blood hadn't taken the opportunity to finish him off, until he saw two familiar faces. Swipe had just readied his daggers, while Jinx knelt off to one side of him. Brother Blood's cybernetics glowed brightly as he prepared a counterattack.

Another lunge. Another clash of adamantine against psionic energy. This time, Brother Blood was able to parry the attack well enough to throw a palm thrust into the center of Swipe's back. The force of the blow shoved the rogue down hard into the concrete, and the follow up blast of psychic power blew him perilously close to the edge of the tower.

The headmaster was about to chide Swipe for letting his guard down, but the lecture would get cut off by a charging Cyborg. Cyborg's bull rush would consequently get interrupted by Brother Blood's psychic incision into his leg. As the robotic Titan tried to pick himself up from the floor, he looked up to see Blood practically hovering over him.

"And then there's you, Cyborg... How is it that the two of you were able to resist my mind-control? What could possibly be the common element?"

"Maybe we're not good at following orders!" Swipe replied from behind. His answer was punctuated with a fierce shoulder tackle into Blood's back, knocking the headmaster off-balance enough to let Cyborg get away. Moving as quickly as he could, Swipe picked up Jinx and found shelter behind an air vent.

"Why ain't you usin' your speed against him, Swipe? You should be able to run circles around him!"

Swipe shook his head, "There's not enough space up here. One false move, and it's over I go. We've just gotta keep the pressure on him, so he can't concentrate enough."

"Sounds great, but how will we do that?"

Brother Blood thunderous shout echoed across the tower's roof, "_JINX!_"

Jinx shuddered and tightly shut her eyes, muttering, "Not again.. Not again.."

"Jinx... Don't you wish to return to the academy so you can be with your friends again?"

After a few seconds, she yelled back, "I- I don't need those guys anymore. They were never my friends!"

"But _Stone_ is, isn't he? Didn't the two of you become, shall we say, _close?_"

Jinx fell silent. Swipe readied his blades. Brother Blood grinned confidently.

"What if I were to bring Stone back to you? Wouldn't that make you happy?"

"Don't listen to him, Jinx! It's just a trick!" Cyborg hissed his advice. "You'll just be back in that nightmare all over again!"

"Come back to the academy, and I'll make any wish you have come true. You can be as popular as you want. The entire school could be at your feet!"

At those words, the mental intrustion returned to Jinx's subconscious. It was more forceful this time, as if determined to take control again. Her shriek pierced the cold air as she dropped to both knees and clutched at the sides of her head. Seeing this prompted the thief to take immediate action.

"Hit 'im. Now!"

At Swipe's order, the remaining two heroes leapt from their hiding places and opened fire upon the headmaster. This time, Blood was expecting the attack and already had his shield up. This allowed him to weather the attack while continuing to concentrate on his mental assault.

Jinx had doubled over at that point, still trembling from the searing pain in her mind. She finally went completely still, then straightened herself up to show the familiar red glow in her eyes. Glancing over his shoulder, Cyborg could have sworn that he saw a single tear run down her left cheek.

Brother Blood smugly ordered, "Now, Jinx, here's your first assignment. Help me subdue these two troublemakers, and start with the rogue."

Jinx's reply was monotone, "Yes, Headmaster."

A stinging short kick caused Swipe to focus his attention behind himself. He then dodged a follow-up punch along with a sweeping kick from the hexer.

"C'mon, Jinxie. I ain't gonna fight you. Don't let Teach get in your head again!"

"I obey only the Headmaster. You must be captured."

More punches and kicks came Swipe's way, but he was able to parry them without much trouble. What he wasn't aware of, however, was the fact that he was once again nearing the edge of the tower roof. Seeing that, Cyborg decided to take Brother Blood on by himself once again to buy the rogue some time.

"You seem to like messin' with people's minds, don't you?"

"Why spend years trying to accomplish something that only needs a minute or two?"

A burst of energy threw Cyborg backwards, but did not knock him prone. Cyborg responded in kind with a fully charged sonic blast to force Brother Blood away from the others. The teacher lashed back with a combination of palm thrusts and ankle sweeps, but his foe would not be budged despite his injury. Blood grew more frustrated with each passing moment, knowing that Jinx's mental control was quickly slipping away. In desperation, he made one more attempt to reach the hexer's mind.

It was then that Cyborg picked up something strange in his audio receptors. It was Brother Blood's voice, but he was addressing someone else.

_"Jinx! Help me, now! Finish that street urchin off! Quickly!"_

Another voice answered. This time, it was Jinx's.

_"No... These are... These are my friends now... I won't be your student... Swipe's my... my..."_

_'How am I hearing this?'_

Cyborg's own thought made Brother Blood stop in his tracks. Both opponents stared at each other for just a moment. One with a chilling revelation, and the other with a sudden flash of inspiration. Blood immediately threw a harsh forward kick at Cyborg, now wanting to beat his enemy into submission before he could relay his new discovery.

The remaining Titans could only watch tensely as Swipe tried to get Jinx to shake off the domination. The rogue grabbed each of the hex-caster's arms as she attempted a couple of slapping strikes and pinned them under his own arms. She stiffly resisted, but Swipe became determined to draw her closer.

"Jinxie, please... I know you're still in there. Listen to me. You remember our song?"

"Song... Our song... O-pen...?"

"That's right, it was 'Open Arms.' Remember how it went? _So now I come to you, with open arms..._"

Jinx's voice became clearer as she picked up the chorus, "_Hoping you'll see... what your love means to me..."_

Swipe nodded softly, "Now, just keep that thought in your head. Anytime the teach tries somethin', go back to that thought an' focus on it with all you got. You can do it, babe. I know you can."

Brother Blood caught a glimpse of this and quickly seethed with anger. He put all of his might into a double palm-thrust that finally pushed Cyborg to the ground while his circuitry pulsed with energy.

"If I can't make you my students, then I'll just have to _eliminate you instead!_"

A concentrated burst of energy flew from Blood's hand and hurtled towards the pair. Swipe saw it first, and did the only thing that came to mind. Before Jinx even knew what was happening, she found herself flung to one side of the blast. In those few seconds, she saw Swipe's silhouette against the small explosion just before he was thrown further than the last time. He tumbled and skidded helplessly towards the edge of the tower before disappearing past it and into the shadows beyond.

There was a moment of silence on the rooftop, while everyone took in what had just occurred. Brother Blood stood triumphant as Cyborg and the other Titans stared in disbelief. Finding a moment of clarity, Jinx ran for the edge. She squinted as she tried to peer into the darkness below the tower, desperately hoping that she would see him.

"Swipe... ?"

The waves crashing against the rocky shore below were her only answers. Jinx continued to throw frantic glances, dashing a few feet back and forth along the edge.

"Swipe! Answer me, Swipe!"

Still nothing. When the reality of the situation sunk in, Jinx simply fell to her hands and knees. Tears began to drip from her cheeks and into the dark abyss.

"Swipe... please, don't be dead... please..."

The sorceress finally sat back, buried her face in her hands, and simply wailed while the others could do nothing more than watch. Brother Blood sensed a moment of opportunity in all of this grieving, and promptly grabbed Cyborg by the arm in an over-the-shoulder throw. Their battle raged anew while Jinx sobbed into her hands for several more minutes. As the fight wore on, Brother Blood taunted his opponent.

"Stop this nonsense, Cyborg, and surrender yourself. Or else, you may end up like that foolish thief down there."

Jinx raised her head, revealing eyes that were sizzling from tears meeting with magical energies. Her words exactly echoed Cyborg's own retort.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about him like that."

The Titan glanced past his adversary long enough to see Jinx get to her feet and fix a hate-filled scowl at Brother Blood. Her hands were already sparking with magic, and her words dripped with rage as she chanted the worst hex she could possibly think up. Making discretion the better part of valor, Cyborg sidestepped a palm thrust and left Brother Blood wide open for the punishment he so richly deserved.

The headmaster barely had time to react to the wave of purple-pink energy surging towards him. His psychic shield came up, but the spell wasn't completely blocked out. When the blast passed through, Blood was puzzled to find that he didn't appear or feel any different. This fact didn't seem to bother Jinx, as she was already setting up another hex for her former teacher. Rather than allow her the time to cast, Blood charged forward and slammed the girl into the side of an air vent.

"That will be quite enough of that, Miss Jinx..." he growled through clenched teeth. "I don't know what exactly you tried to do just now, but I assure you that it had no effect on me. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to _teaching my students_."

The intrusion returned, but Jinx's anger towards Brother Blood strengthened her resolve. She struggled to break free of Blood's physical grip, while her mind clamped around the memory that Swipe taught her. The sound of an energy weapon priming caught their attention.

"Get offa her, Blood!" Cyborg demanded, while he trained his sonic cannon on the teacher's head.

Without a word, Blood instead shifted his leverage and pulled Jinx in front of himself.

"Or what, Cyborg? You'll shoot me? I'm sure you'd prefer to not hit your dear friend Jinx, would you?"

Cyborg grit his teeth as he tried to line up a shot. No matter where he aimed, he risked hitting Jinx. His arms relaxed for just a moment, allowing Brother Blood to raise his hand to cast a pulse of psychic energy at the Titan.

"He who hesitates is lost! Victory is mine!"

Blood's moment of triumph quickly ended when a sharp pain lanced through his outstretched hand. Shocked at the sensation, he lowered his hand to discover that he had been skewered by a dagger. He turned back to see where the attack had come from, and went pale upon seeing the dead risen before him. Even Cyborg and the rest of the Titans were amazed at the sight of Swipe standing on an air duct, not nearly as injured as one would be expected to be after tumbling off the top of a multistory tower. He smirked at everyone's reactions before giving the headmaster a simple request.

"Hey, Teacher. Leave those kids alone."

_**End of Chapter 19  
**__**In Chapter 20 - **__Final Round! FIGHT!_


	20. Vindication

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's note: Teen Titans and all related characters are property of DC Comics and are being used without permission. Song credits are listed at the end of the chapter. Everything is also being used without profit, too, so I guess that's okay.

_Chapter 20  
Vindication_

"I-Impossible!"

Brother Blood's single utterance broke the minute's worth of silence. Fresh tears streamed from Jinx's eyes as she tried to tell herself that she wasn't imagining things. All minds were racing to figure out just how the thief was now standing before them without any injuries, when they all knew that they had seen him fall from the tower. To answer that question, Swipe simply patted the grappling gun on his hip. A mad glint appeared in the thief's eyes and a grin spread across his lips as he hopped down from his perch, never diverting his gaze from the headmaster. To further the intimidation, Swipe began to sing.

"_We don't need no education..._"

Brother Blood took a nervous step backward, still dragging Jinx with him.

"_We don't need no __**thought control**__..."_

Scorn seemed to permeate the last two words to the lyric, which made Blood even more tense.

"_No dark sarcasm in the classroom... Teacher, leave those kids alone._"

Swipe drew his daggers and leaned into his battle stance. Nobody could tell exactly why he was smiling so much. Believing the rogue to be without his common sense, Brother Blood quickly discarded his hostage in order to defend himself better. Cyborg took the opportunity to pull Jinx to safety, before the blades and who-knows-what-else started flying.

"_**HEY! TEACHER! LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!**_"

With that challenge, Swipe raced forward and slashed in a wide arc with one dagger. Brother Blood took a large step backward to avoid the attack and tried to counter with a palm thrust, but Swipe would not be denied. His follow-up strike caught Blood across the upper thigh, drawing a long line of sparks and split metal. Blood winced in pain and used a psychic thrust to push his adversary away. The thief caught himself after the first tumble and charged again. If not for Blood's cybernetic enhancements, he might not have been able to trace where Swipe was at the moment he struck.

A palm thrust halted Swipe's attack and pushed him back several inches. All of the wind was knocked out of the thief's lungs, forcing him to crumple to the ground in a coughing heap. The headmaster sneered down at his opponent, believing the battle to be over for good. The confidence drained from his face when he heard Swipe singing once more.

_"All in... all... it's just a--nother brick in... in the wall..."_

"Stop singing!" Blood barked, punctuating his order with a swift kick to Swipe's midsection.

The rogue saw the kick coming and blocked it, then clamped his arms around Blood's leg. He looked up in defiance and finished the lyric.

_"All in all, you're just a-nother brick in the wall!"_

With that, Swipe shifted his weight and pulled Brother Blood over himself. The former teacher flailed his arms in an attempt to break his fall, but couldn't get them out in time. Another stinging pain washed through his whole body, frustrating him even further.

_'How is he __**doing**__ this?!'_

Blood sensed an attack coming and instinctively rolled to one side, barely avoiding a dagger that was aimed for his back. He threw a punch into the side of Swipe's head to knock him off-balance and then shoved him onto his back. He pinned the rogue down by his wrists, squeezing them so tightly that Swipe was forced to let go of his weapons.

"Those daggers of yours are merely forged of adamantine. So, how am I still _feeling_ the cuts they leave behind?"

Swipe smirked, "Sounds like bad luck ta me."

"You're lying. I blocked that spell! It had no effect!"

"That's just it. Ya never know what her powers can do, 'til they do it."

The rogue lunged forward to deliver a headbutt into Brother Blood's nose. The force of the impact combined with the exploding pain to force the headmaster to recoil backwards and release his grip on his enemy. In an instant, Swipe reclaimed his weapons and jumped to his feet.

"Which means, I've got a better chance against you than ya think."

Swipe again ran at Brother Blood, feinting to the left before swinging around with a sharp roundhouse kick into the teacher's side. He zipped around to the other side before Blood could react and belted him in the face with the handle of his dagger. Continuing the blinding flurry of strikes, Swipe hopped backwards to avoid Blood's counterattack and then broke into another flat run towards his opponent. In three steps, he bounded upwards off of Blood's chest in an attempt to perform a diving attack. Brother Blood had gathered his senses enough to figure out this plan and instead grabbed Swipe by the ankle, yanking him out of the air and in perfect range to be seized by the throat.

"Why do you resist, boy?" Blood snarled as he lifted Swipe off the ground. "Why don't you accept who you really are?"

Swipe struggled against Blood's grasp, managing to get out, "I can... I can accept that... I'm gonna _kick_ your..._urk!_"

"You are a master thief, Swipe! Anything you want could be yours! Why do you insist on throwing all of that away?"

"Because some things're more important... _grr!_ Getcher hands... _off me!_"

Swipe finally aimed a kick at Blood's face, which forced the headmaster to drop his quarry yet again. The rogue fell to his knees and coughed violently in a desperate attempt to get air back into his lungs. Brother Blood calmly loomed over Swipe and continued his lecture. His eyes began to glow red as he spoke.

"With my training, you could become a truly fearsome villain. Nothing would be guarded against your abilities."

"I'm not listening!"

"_Accept who you are, __**Swindle**__, and return to my academy!_"

Hearing his alias made Swipe's mind snap back into focus. After a moment, and without picking his head up, he let out a weak answer.

"You know... You're right."

"Hmm?"

"You're right. I should just accept who I really am. No sense runnin' from it anymore."

Swipe rose to his feet, keeping his gaze fixed on the ground. Blood smirked in smug victory. Jinx and Cyborg could only look on with confused horror. Had Swipe finally given up? Or was his mind being controlled again? Unwilling to sit back and watch this any longer, Jinx started from her hiding place to confront Brother Blood. She was stopped when Cyborg took hold of her arm.

"I ain't about to let Blood take over your mind again, Jinx. If anyone's gonna go out there, it's gonna be me."

"Don't start with that whole vendetta thing again! Blood has hurt us all, and he needs to be stopped!"

"I understand that, but --"

"But nothing! If we're going to fight, we need to fight together."

Cyborg began to say something, but Jinx stopped him with an index finger.

"We're all in the same boat, Cy. You, me, and Swipe."

The blue Titan thought it over for a moment before giving a slow nod of agreement.

"All right, then. First, we've gotta get a plan going."

"Well, I'm open to suggestions."

"Well, it's a good thing I started coming up with one. His mainframe seems to work on the same frequency mine does. If I can remotely hack into his systems, I can deactivate his power core. The frequency is really short-range, though, so I've gotta get in close."

"Got it. Just leave it to me."

Together, they stepped out of the shadows and prepared to fight the deposed headmaster.

Brother Blood noticed them immediately and turned to face them, "Ah, my other prized students! Have you also been considering what I said to Swindle?"

Cyborg primed his sonic cannon while Jinx's eyes flared with arcane energy. They replied in unison, "Does this answer your question?"

With that said, the hex caster conjured a ball of energy and flung it at Brother Blood. Cyborg then fired his weapon after watching where the teacher moved to evade the first attack. Blood responded with two focused psychic blasts from his palms, forcing a hasty evasion from his opponents. Cyborg continued his assault with several quick bursts, while Jinx cartwheeled and flipped into a flanking position. She began casting again while her partner charged directly at Blood. However, the headmaster dodged deftly to one side, causing Cyborg to quickly change trajectory to avoid Jinx. Jinx, in turn, had to break the spell in order to get out of his way.

As Brother Blood attempted to capitalize on the mistake, Cyborg regained his balance long enough to try drawing a bead on the headmaster's back. Jinx's evasive efforts kept Blood on the move, spoiling Cyborg's aim time and again. Finally deciding to take the shot, the robotic Titan's blast just missed its mark and sailed over Blood's head. Blood turned his attention to his former ace student and threw a blast of telekinetic energy to knock Cyborg off his feet. As Jinx started to get some space between herself and Blood, she also found herself thrown to the ground by a similar burst.

"So, Jinx, care to explain exactly it was that you did to me? And why you're able to block me out this time?"

The hex caster rolled away from a stomp and scrambled to get to her feet again.

"Swipe just taught me a little trick. As for that spell, I simply wanted you to feel the same pain that I did."

"Interesting. I'll have to remember to extract that spell from your head once this is over. It might prove useful."

Cyborg's voice rose from behind, "You gotta beat us first, Blood!"

The robotic Titan charged at Blood's back, but only succeeded in being hurled over the teacher's shoulder and into Jinx. While his opponents laid in a heap, Blood turned to his newest convert.

"I grow tired of this. Swindle! Quickly! Help me take care of these delinquents!"

Without a word, Swipe walked slowly to Blood's side. Jinx tried desperately to rouse her dazed partner or at least get out from underneath him. When she finally freed herself from Cyborg's weight, she found herself facing down her boyfriend. Her eyes darted between Swipe and Brother Blood as she considered who she should go after. Deciding to take down the controller directly, she threw a jagged arc of energy towards the archvillain.

Brother Blood quickly put up a psionic barrier to block the attack, just as Swipe shifted his position and fell in behind Brother Blood.

Wait, _behind_ him?

**"BACKSTAB!"**

With a great shout, Swipe drove his blades deep into Brother Blood's metal back. Blood howled in a mix of surprise and searing pain as great sparks of electricity burst from the wounds, then stiffly dropped to his knees. With the last vestiges of power left in his system, he could barely get his head to turn to face his betrayer.

"How... is it... possible...?"

Swipe grinned, "A good rogue is both mentally _and_ physically agile. You were right about me needin' to accept who I am, though. An' ya know what?" The rogue got right up to where Blood's ear would be and whispered, "_I __am__ a hero._"

Cyborg was slowly coming to at this point and realized that his opportunity was here. Without hesitating any further, he got back to his feet and into transmitting range.

"I can't... I _won't_ be beaten like this..."

Blood struggled to raise his hands, focusing his fleeting energy into one last blast at the infernal thief. However, nothing came forth this time. He tried again, but with the same result. That was when he felt it. A jamming signal, and it was coming from Cyborg.

"No... Not when I'm so_ close!_"

A victorious grin spread across Cyborg's face as he sent the remote shutdown code into Blood's system. As his senses went into hibernation mode one by one, he could hear the Titan's parting words.

"School's out, Brother Blood."

"_Forever_," Swipe added right after.

With the mental control broken, the captive Titans fell to the ground. Cyborg, Jinx, and Swipe stood there for a moment while still looking warily at the inert headmaster, not quite sure of what to say or do. The thief finally took the opportunity.

"Well, if you ain't gonna say it, then I will. _BOOYAH!_"

Cyborg's grin widened, "What, you're gonna steal my _lines_, too?"

After they had regained their senses, Robin and the others gathered around the trio and looked upon the fallen headmaster. The Titan leader looked back to Swipe and Jinx with an approving smile.

"Glad to see you two are back, Swipe."

Swipe returned the smile and gave a thumbs-up, "Glad to be back, Robs."

A few rays of sunlight shone over the horizon, heralding the start of a new day. Everyone turned to face it with grateful smiles.

Jinx breathed a sigh of relief and said quietly, "It's over. The nightmare's finally over."

Beast Boy took the silence as an opportunity to suggest, "So... Who's up for breakfast?"

Swipe grinned and replied, "Sounds good ta me. I could go for a nice, big omelette right about now."

After the celebratory breakfast, Cyborg, Robin, and Speedy volunteered to take Brother Blood into custody. Then, the entire Titans team set out trying to repair the base using the broken-down Cyborg duplicates for spare parts and scrap metal. After all of the rudimentary repairs were completed, Swipe and Jinx stole away to the roof to gaze at the ocean. They sat together at the very same spot Swipe tumbled over, leaving everyone to briefly believe he was gone. After many minutes of reflection, Swipe was the first to break the silence.

"Hard to believe that we were fighting for our lives up here just a few hours ago,"

Jinx nodded a reply and scooted a bit closer. Even though it was nearing noon, Steel City was still pretty cold.

"Things are never gonna go back to normal, are they?"

The thief looked over at her, "What makes ya say that?"

"Mammoth and Gizmo might come looking for me. Slade might be out there somewhere, too."

"Slade's gone, Jinxie. He got swallowed up in an eruption that Terra caused. As for Muscles and the Technogeek, won't they get the idea if you tell 'em that you don't wanna hang out with 'em anymore?"

"No. They always counted on me to scout out which malls had the least security when Gizmo couldn't find a bank to loot." Jinx hugged her knees to her chest, "All they care about is breaking stuff, having 'fun,' and just making a mess of things."

Swipe brought an arm around her shoulders, "Well, they're gonna have to have fun without you from now on. Maybe we could introduce 'em to Billy Numerous. I bet they'd make a _great_ team."

The hex caster giggled lightly at the thought and said, "You know, Swipe, _you've_ shown me what it really means to have fun. Like, dancing to your favorite song or playing games with your friends."

The thief gave her a squeeze, "Or bein' close to someone you care about?"

Jinx nodded, "_Especially_ that."

"I always knew there was more ta life than stealing things from under people's noses. Just didn't know _what._ Well, until now, that is."

Just then, there was a quiet cough behind them. They turned to see Raven standing at the access door.

"Sorry to break up the moment, but we're getting ready to go back to Jump City. Do you two need a ride?"

The pair smiled and got to their feet.

"Sure, Sunshine. Anything to save my legs from another cross-country run."

Jinx took hold of Swipe's hand and smiled a bit wider.

As they walked, Jinx asked a one word question, "'Sunshine?'"

"I like it better than 'Bluebird.' No offense."

Jinx replied with a shrug, "None taken. The name was Gizmo's idea."

Swipe seemed a little suprised, but didn't say anything. Curious, Jinx pressed him for more.  
"What is it?"

"I'm surprised he didn't try incorporatin' some bodily function into it."

_**End of Chapter 20**_

**In Chapter 21 and Epilogue - **_The gang returns to Jump City for a small celebration party, with Swipe making a triumphant return to the stage. Everything is normal once again, but for how long?_

Post-script disclaimers: "The Wall" is property of Pink Floyd.


	21. Celebration

"Swindle" by Ed Alger (SecondLevelWriter)

Author's note: Yeah, finally! Get thee behind me, procrastination!  
Teen Titans and all related characters are property of DC Comics and are being used without permission. Song credits are listed at the end of the chapter. We're so close now...

_Chapter 21  
Celebration_

It was a pleasant flight back to Jump City. The Teen Titans dropped Swipe and Jinx off at their motel hideout and wished them a good night. On their way back, however, the team did not expect to see an invitation to a comeback party being held at the Retro Zone. Starfire didn't even need to convince the others to attend.

They were greeted at the door by Rick, who cheerfully opened the door and ushered them inside. The club was mostly full and abuzz with curiosity towards the presence of the superhero team, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. The house band was warming up and running mic checks, yet there was no sign of Swipe or Jinx.

"Knowing him, he's got some kind of grand entrance planned out," Robin mused to himself. "Knowing him, he'll come down from up there. Right about… now," Raven added, pointing toward the catwalks over the stage.

As if on cue, just before the band started up their first song, a voice cut in over the speakers and sang in blazing glory.

**"You got the touch... You got the power-r-r-r!"**

Confused glances were thrown every which way as the audience and the band attempted to figure out where that voice came from. Mike was the first to look upwards, and a grin spread across his face when he recognized the mystery singer.

"He's back. Guys! The kid's back!"

The drummer turned everyone's attention towards the ceiling where Swipe had begun his descent to the stage using his grappling gun. A spotlight shone on him the whole way, prompting the whole place to erupt into applause as they also recognized the familiar face. The band started playing the appropriate opening riffs as the thief made his landing. The Titans joined in the applause, glad to see their newest friend back where he loved to be.

Swipe pulled the microphone from his belt loop and continued singing;

_After all is said and done  
__You've never walked, you've never run  
__You're a WINNER!  
__Got the moves, you know the street  
__Break the rules, take the heat  
__You're NOBODY'S FOOL!  
__You're at your best when the goin' gets rough  
__You've been put to the test, but it's never eno-o-ough!_

As the chorus approached, Swipe signaled to the side of the stage where Jinx anxiously awaited. She nodded quickly and picked up a spare microphone to join in.

_You got the TOUCH!  
__You got the POWER!  
__When all hell's breakin' loose  
__You'll be right in the eye of the storm!  
__You got the HEART!  
__You got the MOTION!  
__You know that when things get too tough...  
__You got the TOUCH!_

During the guitar solo, Swipe gave Jinx an enthusiastic hug and informed the whole night club, "It feels so GOOD to be back again!" As the audience roared, the rogue continued singing.

_You never bend, you never break  
__You seem to know just what it takes  
__You're a FIGHTER!  
__It's in the blood. It's in the will  
__It's in the mighty hands of steel  
__When you're STANDING YOUR GROUND!  
__And you never get hit when your back's to the wall  
__Gonna fight to the end, and you're taking it all!_

_You got the TOUCH!  
__You got the POWER!  
__When all hell's breakin' loose  
__You'll be right in the eye of the storm!  
__You got the HEART!  
__You got the MOTION!  
__You know that when things get too tough...  
__You got the TOUCH!_

The song finished with great intensity as everyone was psyched up to hear of Swipe's adventures. The rogue first greeted the guys in the band with handshakes, high-fives, and promises that they'll hear everything in a moment. He then turned his attention to the crowd, some of whom were excitedly telling friends on their cell phones to get down to the club and see what's happening.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Swipe paused for the cheering to calm down before continuing, "You're in for a very special show tonight! It's our very first VICTORY PARTY!"

Swipe stabbed his right arm upward, striking a pose for the roaring crowd. Amid the throng, he spied the Teen Titans still hanging out in the back of the room. This, he believed, needed to be remedied.

"What th' hell're you guys doing, hiding on me back there? Get up here! Everyone, the Teen Titans! If it weren't for them, this night wouldn't even have been possible!"

The audience broke out into another strong round of applause for their resident heroes. Raven stuck to the back of the group while Beast Boy rode on Cyborg's shoulders and soaked up the adulation. Starfire cheerfully waved to everyone she could see in the crowd, to which Robin reluctantly joined in.

"With the help of these guys, I stopped Brother Blood from takin' over this city an' takin' over the mind of the girl I adore! All you guys here in this club are lookin' at a coupla new heroes!"

The crowd expressed their approval with another loud round of applause.

"An' heroes need more hero music! Let's keep this party rolling ALL NIGHT!"

With that, Mike counted off the rhythm and immediately kicked off another favorite. Swipe sang with the most energy he could put out, and got everyone solidly into a partying mood. Many more songs were sung that night, from every artist they could think of. By night's end, Swipe had one more request.

"Guys, if I may, I'd like to sing our song. I think you know what I'm talking about."

Tim gave a nod and began to play the opening notes on his keyboard. Swipe gave a thumbs-up and turned back to Jinx.

"Jinxie, this next song has held us together in more ways than anyone could think of. I wanna sing it to you tonight, for old time's sake."

A tearful smile spread across the hex-caster's face as she nodded her permission. Their gaze never broke even as the rogue started singing.

_Lyin' beside you, here in the dark  
__Feelin' your heart beat... with mine  
__Softly you whisper... You're so sincere  
__How could our love be so blind?_

_We sailed on together and drifted apart  
__And here you are by my side..._

As the music swelled into the chorus, Swipe took Jinx by the hand and started to dance with her. Although the steps were hardly the waltz they did before, it was still just as special as that first night. From the audience, Starfire sighed happily and leaned over to Robin's ear.

"It is good to see them together again, and to see them so happy."

Robin nodded once in agreement, replying, "It just shows how willing Swipe is to fight for someone that means a lot to him."

Behind them, Cyborg's look of slight regret was finally noticed by Raven. She glided up closer to Cyborg's audio receptor and asked him a question in secret.

"What's wrong?"

"Aw, it's nothing."

Raven's deadpan gaze showed that she wasn't buying that line.

"I'm serious, Raven. It's nothing, really…"

"It's about what happened at the academy, isn't it?"

Cyborg's lack of a response seemed to affirm that.

"Cyborg, you were under Brother Blood's influence. What happened between you and Jinx wasn't your fault."

"But I shouldn't have even done it in the first place! The robot part of me should've stopped Blood from tryin' to take over my mind!"

"Sometimes, we're caught at our weakest moment. You should try talking to Swipe about it after the show, if that will make you feel better. Looking at him right now, I'd say it's a fair bet that he's over it."

Cyborg thought about that for a moment and nodded once.

"All right, Rae. Thanks."

"No problem. Now, hush. There's a show going on."

The Titans watched Swipe finish his song to Jinx as he twirled her around the stage. The whole time, Jinx tried her best not to cry too much and simply enjoy this moment. Memories of their first slow dance flooded back into her mind, filling in the last remaining blank spots in her head. Just as the song said, she came back and turned night into day.

The song ended to thunderous applause, and everyone took a bow. Swipe raised his arm up in gratitude, giving an extra smile and nod to the Titans.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight! I'll see you back here next week, I promise! Good night, Jump City!"

After another bow and a tremendous round of applause, Swipe and the others took their leave of the stage. The thief was soon approached by Mr. Bradley, who couldn't have been happier to see him.

"Kid! I didn't think we'd ever see you again! Are you back for sure?"

"For sure, Mr. Bradley. And maybe in a year or two, I might ask to become a full-time employee of the club."

"I'll look forward to that day. Until then, you're still welcome to come and perform whenever you like."

"Thanks, Mr. B. You can count on seein' me again."

The thief spotted the Titans waiting outside for him, and said a quick goodnight to everyone before meeting with the team once more. Robin gave the couple a grin and extended his hand.

"The invitation is still outstanding, you know."

Swipe accepted the handshake and replied, "I know, Robs. But, if you don't mind, I'd like to run independently for a while. I'll come an' help you if ya need it, though. Don't get me wrong!"

Jinx placed her hand over Swipe's, adding, "That goes for me, too. I'm done being a villain. If you need my help, just ask."

"Absolutely. You two have a good night, then. We'll be in touch."

Starfire approached the couple with an expression of barely-controlled joy on her face. Swipe, remembering his past, dropped his smile a little bit out of shame.

"Starfire, I'm sorry 'bout what happened before. I… just lost control that night."

"It is 'okay', Friend Swipe. I will admit that my heart became broken when I realized it was you fighting us at the vault, but Robin did explain later that Brother Blood was the one responsible. Our friendship is untarnished."

The Tamaranian stepped closer to Swipe, causing the rogue to brace himself for an unintentionally bone-crushing hug. To his surprise, he received a gentle pat on both shoulders and a warm smile instead.

"Thanks, Star. I promise it won't happen again."

Cyborg spoke up behind them, "Speaking of things not happening again…"

The rogue put on a smile as he looked over to the blue armored Titan, "It's okay, Cy. I got a little carried away, myself."

"You weren't the only one. And Jinx? I'm really sorry for what happened."

Jinx smiled and shook her head, "Don't worry about it. You made up for it all in Steel City."

"So, still buds?"

Swipe held out his hand, which was soon grasped in a firm handshake of renewed friendship.

"You betcha. You two should come by the tower sometime. I'd like to see how you do at Racer Rally X 2. I need some new competition and BB vowed never to play against me again after I smoked him in our last game."

"That's because you cheated!"

"What? I did not!"

"Dude, I know you did! You probably hacked into the Gamestation when I wasn't looking so you'd have maxed speed all the time! Swipe, you've gotta watch him if you're gonna play against him!"

Cyborg turned away from Swipe to continue his argument with Beast Boy, allowing Raven to get in a few words of her own in typical fashion.

"Nice job, heroes."

"Couldn't have done it without ya," Swipe replied. "You guys have a good night. We'll be in touch!"

As everyone went their separate ways, a sinister shadow crawled across the walls of the alleys towards Swipe's hideout...

On the way home, Jinx finally asked, "Next time, can I do a song?"

"Of course," said the rogue. "What didja have in mind?"

"Now, now. That's a secret."

"Aww, come on, Jinxie. Can't ya give me a hint?"

"Nope. You'll just have to wait and see."

The conversation continued as they walked through the door of their home/hideout.

"Who sings it? Bonnie Tyler?"

"Not telling!"

"The Eurhythmics?"

"I won't give it away, so stop trying!" Jinx started laughing at Swipe's determination.

"It's Cyndi Lauper, isn't it? Am I right? Huh?"

The sorceress threw her arms around her boyfriend and said, "You ask way too many questions, you know that?"

The rogue gave her a squeeze around the middle in return and replied, "Curiosity always gets the better of me, what can I say?"

"I hope this doesn't keep you up tonight. I have a hard time with restless sleepers."

Swipe arched an eyebrow, "Whaddaya mean by that?"

With only a smile and a peck on the cheek as her answer, Jinx slipped away from their embrace and walked over to her bed. After grasping one end of it, she pulled it towards the doorway to Swipe's room. The thief quickly assisted her once he realized her intent. He followed her lead as she maneuvered her bed right next to his, leaving about six or seven inches of space between them.

After it was over, Jinx rubbed her forehead with her arm and said, "Thanks. I take it you don't mind my last minute decision?"

"What makes you think I would?"

They both smiled and shared one last embrace before heading into their respective bathrooms to change into their sleepwear. They got into their beds, kissed each other good night, and slowly fell into slumber.

Hours later, a flickering orange light flooded the bedroom and awakened them both. They ran outside without bothering to get properly dressed, with Swipe only nabbing his daggers on his way out. What they saw as they exited the front door made Jinx scream and gave Swipe pause. A great fire shaped like a runic S burned in the middle of the front yard. In the center of that fire stood a familiar enemy, still wearing the orange and black armor that he had in life.

"Glad to see you back, Swipe. Jinx. You're just in time to deliver a message for me."

"Slade…? It can't be. You're… You're _dead!_"

"How nice, you remember," Deathstroke replied dryly. "Now, be good enough to remember to show my 'handiwork' to the Titans. Let them know that I have a message for Raven."

"Why Raven?" Jinx spoke up. "She would _never_ be _your_ apprentice."

"That's not my goal... _this time_, but she'll be useful all the same. Just tell her, 'Daddy's coming home.' She'll know."

With that, Slade turned and walked back into the fire, then vanished without a trace. Jinx clutched Swipe's hand tightly as they could only watch, terrified at Slade's resurrection and bewildered by the mark etched into the ground before them. Swipe gazed at the dying hellfire and muttered something to himself.

"Guess 'happily ever after' will hafta wait a little longer."

_**End of Chapter 21**_

_**End of Book 2**_

**Will there be a Book 3? We'll see!**

There never seems to be any rest for anyone in Jump City, wicked or otherwise. Slade rises from his own ashes, bringing the promise of a horrible daemon king's arrival into this world. Swipe must contend with Jinx's old school buddies on top of dealing with this colossal threat. Can Swipe still help save the world without blowing his cover?

Post-script disclaimers: _The Touch_ is written and originally performed by Stan Bush. _Open Arms_ is still originally performed and owned by Journey.


End file.
